I was watching Jamie Oliver making bread. He makes it look so easy! Forget all the recipes which tell you to let knead the dough for ages, then let it rest for half an hour, then punch it down, then let it proof again for half hour, then roll it out, then let it rest again till it doubles in size, etc... These recipes are why I've never tried making bread. It must be a conspiracy between recipe writers and bread making machine manufacturers!Anyways, I modified a bit and here it is. All you need is 1/2kg flour, a packet of dry yeast (11g), 250ml water, a handful each of salt and of sugar and whatever you want to stuff it with (I used sandwich ham, hard boiled eggs halved and... cream cheese!). Just dump everything but filling into bowl, mix till comes together. Then, knead about 5 mins and roll out flat into a rectangle. Put filling in centre and fold up the 2 long sides to wrap up the filling. Shape the length into a circle on a tray, rest for 15 mins then bake at 190 degrees Celsius for about 1/2hr. Oh ya, rub top with oil before baking for a crunchy crust. So, so simple.
It was real yummy, though Jamie Oliver used mozarella and parmesan cheese and also parma ham, which sounds much yummier! In the end it was hubby and me who ate the thing, as usual. Gave the other half to dad. Will have to try the other recipe for the kids. Jamie Oliver made double the amount of dough and the other half he filled with Nutella chocolate spread, bananas and nuts! Ooooo.... For sure the kids will like that one! Might have to pick out the nuts for Eva though.
The bread turns out a bit hard like French loaf and other western breads. If you like softer breads like Taiwanese style ones you need to add egg and milk I think. Will try that next time. I think my kids will prefer a softer bread. Eva would prefer not to chew at all if she had a choice! Anything soft and nothing black! She'll pick out any black specks in her food, however microscopic. Her favourite food is rice and she usually only allows soup and egg to be added. I know, I know, will have to try harder to introduce variety into her diet. Sometimes I'm just too tired and lazy to go through the whole 'please eat your veggies' routine, if its plain white rice she wants, then give her plain white rice!
Claire on the other hand will eat just about anything. All children are such individuals, totally different from their siblings. Annie, at 7 yrs old, already thinks she's fat! That's just crazy!
Hubby is now trying to lose weight to see if he can stop depending on his diabetes medication to bring his blood glucose down. He wants to eat bitter gourd everyday! Yucks! Luckily, he actually loves fruits and vegetables. He can drool over fruits at a fruit stall the same way I drool over chocolates at a sweet shop! I don't understand it. Now all this has started me thinking about that Old Gold rum and raisin chocolate in my fridge. Mmmm... The kids don't like the alcohol in it, so I have no choice but to keep it for myself! :)
So, anyway, now I have a new project to look forward to. Chocolate bread.
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