There are a few cocktail recipes covered alright, but the main focus is the grub, and all of these dishes are family friendly. As tested by my own kids.
Not wanting to give away too much, as I do want people to actually show up at the event (!), I have one of the recipes below.
This one is such a popular snack, and so simple. all the other fancy treats you will have made just don't stand a chance!!
Rosemary and black olive foccacia
First make a batch of white yeast bread. For a swiss roll sized tin you need 600g of strong white flour. The little tins I used in the picture are half sized trays, measuring 20cm x 30cm and 300g of flour fits one, but you know what..... life is too short to be getting stressed about very particular measurements. Why not go for it and make a full 1kg batch of bread and use whatever tin you have. Any dough left over, make rolls or a loaf of plain white bread. That's what I'd do.
So on that note, here are the ingredients for a 300g batch and a 1kg batch.
Small batch
300g strong white bread flour
1t salt
1t sugar
1 sachet of dried active yeast (7g)
200ml warm water
Large batch
1 kg strong white bread flour
1 T salt
1 T sugar
3 sachets of dried active yeast
625ml of warm water
Before I get going, I just want to talk about yeast if you have the patience. If not, skip this bit.
There are so many types of yeast and different ways to use it, you could do a ten week training course on it. It is one of those things that the more you learn about it, the less you realise you know. I have been baking yeast bread for years and I am only really now starting to learn from my past results, what flour works and what different yeasts taste like.
Basically yeast in it's natural state is hard to come by. Fresh yeast can be bought in good bakers, or in health food shops. I got some in GET FRESH in Rathfarnham recently. It has a very short shelf life, and must be refrigerated or frozen and can be an acquired taste. It smells and tastes of beer, which is only understandable as beer is made with yeast.
If you are using fresh yeast, you need to activate it, as it is dormant and waiting to be woken up and fed! To do this you put it in warm water with sugar and watch it foam up (like beer!)
Other types of yeast that are more widely available and are more practical in an ordinary household kitchen as they can be stored for longer are
Active dried yeast which needs also to be dissolved in warm water and sugar and is granular and has a lovely flavour. This one is my favourite and the one I use the most. I love the reaction of the yeast in the water, it is pure alchemy. It adds theatre to making bread, and if you are looking for a gimmick to get your kids into the kitchen, this might just be your man. Especially if you put 200ml of warm water in a small 250ml jug, it will spill over like Vesuvius. Always a fun show.
Quick Yeast or Instant Yeast which needs no extra help, it is already awake and ready to go. There is a really nice one you can get in most healthfood shops or in gourmet shops made by Doves farm, who incidentally also make nice flour.
But the most widely available type and the one you are more likely to use is the sachet variety, and you can get it almost anywhere you can get groceries. I saw it in Texaco in Rathfarnham recently!
It is perfectly good and you get good results. I personally find it completely flavourless, but I do like my bread to have a taste. A stron flavour may not be your cup of tea in which case go for the sachet option. Tesco do a version of this, also good results but equally flavourless. Good value though, less than €1.50 if memory serves.
All these yeast options have instructions as to how much to use in relation to your quantity of flour, but I am going to give you a little guide here.
PER KG OF STRONG WHITE FLOUR
FRESH YEAST = 20G
ACTIVE DRIED YEAST = 1 1/2 TBSP
INSTANT FAST ACTION YEAST = 3 SACHETS
You would really need to play around with it a bit and see what results you get. It is hard not to make successful bread. It is one of those fairly resiliant things that is kid proof.
Anyhow, back to the foccacia
So, to make the bread, mix the salt with the flour and the sugar with the water and the quick yeast into the flour (or dissolve if using another variety, see above)
Stir the flour and make a well. Mix the water in in two batches with one hand while holding the bowl with the other. Purists will tell you to do this directly on the counter. But trust me a bowl makes the clean up a little more manageable.
The mixture will first make a porridge consistency then as it uses up the flour it gets crumbly, then you need more water. You are looking for a dough that uses up all the flour without being sloppy. If you need to add a bit more warm water, do.
Now you have a dough. LIGHTLY flour the counter. Too much flour and you make your dough very dry.
Knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
Clean out your bowl, oil well with extra virgin olive oil, put in the dough, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place until you are ready for it really. But it needs to be a minimum of half an hour. You can leave it on the counter, so long as it is not in a draught. You don't want the yeast to get chilly or it will not cooperate. The dough needs to double in size. The warmer the environment, the faster it does this, but the longer it takes to do this, the more yeasty the flavour.
A way to illustrate this is to put a bowl of dough in the hot press, forget about it (by mistake) and come downstairs the next morning to a very strong smell of beer in the hall! You will be greeted with an enthusiastically overflowing bowl of fizzy bread mush and a VERY strong smell of yeast.
When it is doubled in size, punch the dough in the bowl to deflate it. This is another good job for the kids! Take it out of the bowl and 'knock it back' by pressing and kneading to get rid of any air that has been introduced while proving.
Now shape it. For 300g of dough, you use the whole lot for a half a tray.
If you are using a kg, you should get a large swiss roll tray of foccacia and a bread loaf left over.
You want to press your dough into a rectangle no thicker than 3cm deep.
( That's about the size of one slice of toasty bread) It takes a good bit of wrestling and persuasion, but put the dough into the tray and push it into the corners. Using your clenched fist. Press all over so it is more or less the same thickness all over.
Then using your fingertips, indent the dough all over, like cheek dimples to form little wells in which the olive oil will sit.
Then drizzle about 2 T of olive oil and tilt the tray from left to right and side to side so the oil sits in all the dimples.
Sprinkle over some sea salt and cover with sprigs of rosemary and black olives.
Bake at 200c for 10 - 12 minutes. This does not take long at all so don't take your eyes off it after 10 minutes
Cut into squares when cool. It will keep really well under cling film if you want to make it the morning of your bash.
This is also a great one for picnics. You can put on sundried tomatoes or whatever takes your fancy.
No comments:
Post a Comment