This month it’s Sarah’s turn to host Breakfast Club.

Breakfast Club is a  food blogging event hosted by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and Sarah from fingers and toes. We love breakfast and want everyone to enjoy better and more interesting breakfasts.

Each month one of us will choose a theme and then post the round up on the last Sunday of the month.

So far we’ve had:

Breakfast Club #1: Asian
Breakfast Club #2: Eggs
Breakfast Club #3: Muffins (link to announcement – entries close on Sunday!  I am in France and will post the round up when I get home)

You still have a few days to make some muffins and email me – Sarah was planning on making English muffins which got her thinking… So this month’s theme is British.

There are so many options here. English muffins, crumpets, Scotch pancakes, a full English, Welsh, Irish or Scottish, kippers, porridge, Marmite or marmalade on toast.

Make breakfast inspired by the month’s theme, write about it (please include a link in your post to both hosts’ announcement or blog).  Sarah’s announcement is here.

Mail the host for the month, (sarah dot e dot moore at gmail dot com) with a link to your post, name of your blog and a photo (or link to your photo) by 6pm (UK time) on the 26th September.

If you do not have a blog send a recipe and photo to the month’s host who will include it in the round up.

Tell everyone – let’s inspire each other to make more interesting breakfasts!

We have a prize, people! Kellogg’s is running their National Breakfast Week promotion next week and have kindly offered us a lovely breakfast hamper to give away. We’ll be giving it to our favourite EU entrant by a completely impartial judging process which may involve the Kellogg’s people or may just involve random numbers. Either way I promise you don’t have to be a close personal friend to win. And look at those teacups!

This month’s Fresh From the Oven Challenge was hosted by Chele, from Chocolate Teapot, who choose brioche for the challenge.    I was hugely excited about this as I love brioche and had never made it before, but had always enjoyed it on French holidays.   Muttering “Let them eat cake” to myself I set about making the dough.  Chele provided us with a recipe from  River Cottage Handbook No.3.

Brioche
400g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
5g powdered dried yeast
10g fine sea salt
90ml warm milk
2 tbsp caster sugar
100g butter, softened
4 medium free range eggs, beaten
To Glaze
1 medium free range egg
2 tbsp milk

to knead by hand:  mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, and bring it all together to form a dough.  Knead for about 10 mins, until smooth and shiny.

Or, to use a food mixer:  fit the dough hook and add all the dough ingredients to the mixer bowl.  Mix on low speed until combined, and leave to knead for about 10 mins, until smooth and shiny.

Shape the dough into a round, place in a bowl and cover tightly.  Leave in the fridge overnight.

The next day, divide the dough in two and form into the shape of your choice.  Lightly flour the loaves, lay them on a wooden board or linen cloth and cover with a plastic bag.  Leave them somewhere nice and warm to prove until almost doubled in size; this could take 3 or 4 hours, as the dough is cold.

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.  For the glaze, beat the egg and milk together.  Transfer the risen loaves to a baking tray and brush all over with the glaze.  Bake for about 10 mins, then lower the oven setting to 180C/gas mark 4 and bake for a further 30 mins or until golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 2 small loaves

I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter and kneaded by hand.  However, I wanted brioche for breakfast so I made the dough after lunch, popped it in the fridge, then shaped the loaves and left them out overnight to rise.    This worked well, but the dough was very sticky and was hard to transfer from the board to the baking tray.    Next time I shall leave them to rise on a silicon mat, then they can go straight into the oven without needing to be transferred to a baking tray.

I slightly over cooked them, I was away from home and completely forgot to adjust temperature or cooking time for the fan oven I was using.     Despite this the brioche was delicious and I will certainly make it again.    Any brioche not eaten fresh was sliced and frozen, and toasted from frozen was still delicious.

See the full round up and past challenges at the Fresh From The Oven blog.  Many thanks to Chele for hosting such a great challenge.  I am sitting in France writing this post which I think is rather fitting!

I was a little disappointed in the puddings.     Despite the packet saying the puds were made with 64% cocoa solids chocolate (33% of the ingredients) they really are not that chocolately.   The texture is slightly grainy; overall the pudding reminded me of an overset packet blancmange rather than that of a pot au chocolate.       Along with the chocolate and cream Waitrose have also added milk and egg yolk (free range of course).   When I make pot au chocolate I heat cream and add chocolate, stir until mixed, pour into pots and leave to set.  It is a fairly fool proof process, barely even a recipe and works perfectly every time. I am not sure why egg and milk are also needed.  Here is a version with orange.

Happily there are no preservatives or artificial additives in the mix, the pack I bought had a fridge life of another 5 days.

Sorry Waitrose, you usually get it so absolutely right, I am surprised that I do not like these more.   And when sending a mailing out please, please, please make sure the tills are programmed to scan and accept the coupons without needing a manual override!

Regular readers will know that I am a huge fan of smoked and tinned fish “gloops” of varying types.    This simple lunch was made with half a tin of white beans, that were in the freezer, a piece of smoked mackerel and some horseradish sauce.     Served on some homemade bread, also from the freezer, it made a quick, delicious and satisfying lunch.    I think that grain mustard may work well instead of the horseradish. 

White Bean & Smoked Mackerel Bruschetta (Serves 2)

1 tin white beans (I used cannellini)
1 pieces smoked mackerel
1 tbs horseradish sauce (to taste – some are far hotter than others!
Spring onion (finely chopped)
Juice and zest of one lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Bread
Olive oil

Rinse the beans, skin the mackerel and put into a bowl together.  Roughly mash with a fork.   Stir in the horseradish, spring onion and lemon, then season to taste.     Drizzle a little olive oil on to some hot toast and serve the “gloop” on top.  Serve with some green leaves and garnished with lemon and chives.

A while ago I was sent a bag of Total Greek Yogurt to try, and one of the dishes I made was some coronation chicken made with leftovers from the previous nights roast.   When buying my chicken I was amazed that my small local Sainsbury’s had two breeds of free range chicken for sale, I am sure that this is largely down to the work of the Chicken Out Campaign, annoyingly I made this so long ago I cannot remember which chicken I bought.

There are dozens of coronation chicken recipes out there, many are laden with fat and calories, I wanted to make something lighter with a lower fat base to the sauce, I know that lots of low fat versions of regular foods are stuffed full of sugary carbs so I try to avoid them.     Here I used 1/3 regular mayonnaise* with 2/3 total 0% Greek yogurt to make a creamy base for the sauce, it tastes almost exactly the same as pure mayonnaise but has about a third of the fat and the healthy probiotic cultures.      I used Steenberg’s Organic Curry Powder to flavour the sauce, I do usually make my curry by mixing my own spices, but a blend does give the perfect Anglo-Indian flavour for this dish, and is perfect if you are in a hurry.   Steenbergs also have an extensive range of regional curry powder blends.   You can leave the chicken out and use the sauce as a dip.

Coronation Chicken (Serves 2)

Left over roasted chicken (chopped)
1 tbs mayonnaise
2 tbs 0% Greek yogurt
1 heaped tsp curry powder (more or less to taste)
Splash boiling water
1 tbs chutney
6 dried apricots chopped (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the mayonnaise, yogurt and curry powder together, if needed add a splash of boiling water to thin the sauce.    Stir in the chutney, apricots (if using) and chicken.   Season to taste with salt and pepper.   I served with green leaves and tomato.

* I do make mayonnaise, but my standard to go fridge staple is Hellmanns.   I think it is the best tasting of the ready made mayonnaises and is made with free range eggs.

This month it’s my turn to host Breakfast Club.

Breakfast Club is a  food blogging event hosted by me and Sarah from fingers and toes. We love breakfast and want everyone to enjoy better and more interesting breakfasts.

Each month one of us will choose a theme and then post the round up on the last Sunday of the month.

Last month Sarah hosted and the theme was Eggs.  Sarah is about to post the round up.

And this months theme is…

Muffins!

Muffins are a weekend breakfast regular for me, and I try to create a new flavour every time, I love my muffins.   Here are some ideas to get you going:

Muffins – Breakfast – Cheese & Pancetta
Muffins – Berry
Muffins – Double Chocolate & Orange
Muffins – Muesli
Muffins – Okara, Lemon & Blueberry
Muffins – Spiced Apple Bran
Muffins – Spiced Sweet Potato
Muffins – Spiced Triple Orange
Muffins – Peanut Butter
Muffins – Prune & Walnut
Muffins – Quinoa & Banana
Muffins – Zingy Maple Mango

And my basic muffin method is here, if you do not eat eggs the basic recipe works just fine if you leave them out.

Because  I am late posting this and am away at the end of the month, the deadline will be Sunday 5th September (I hope Sarah can announce on the first and we can get back to the last Sunday of the month schedule).  We look forward to reading your ideas.

To recap:

Make breakfast inspired by the month’s theme, write about it (please include a link in your post to both hosts’ announcement or blog)

Mail the host for the month, (helen at fussfreeflavours dot com) with a link to your post, name of your blog and a photo (or link to your photo) by 6pm (UK time) on the 5th September.

If you do not have a blog send a recipe and photo to the month’s host who will include it in the round up.

Tell everyone – let’s inspire each other to make more interesting breakfasts!

According to the date of the photo I made this several months ago, in March to be exact.   I know it was utterly delicious, so the photo was thus placed in the “To be blogged at a later date when I have time” file.    Usually, unless I blog within 2 days of making something, the odds of the photo making its way from my laptop to the internet are very slim, but the person that I made this for reminded me the other day how she had enjoyed it, promoting me  to act upon my original intention to write about it.

Use the bestest, freshest, creamiest buffalo Mozzarella you can buy, mine came from a wonderful Italian deli opposite Hammersmith (Circle line) Underground Station. 

Marinated Mozzarella & Parmesan (Serves 2)

1 ball Mozzarella
1 tbs good olive oil
1 small clove garlic – finely chopped
Juice & zest of half a lemon
2 oz / 50g Parmesan
1 tsp capers
few basil leaves

Simply slice the mozzarella into 1/4″ / 0.5cm slices and arrange in a shallow bowl.   Pour over the olive oil, lemon zest & juice and the finely chopped garlic.    Using a peeler cut the Parmesan into slivers and sprinkle with the capers over the mozzarella.     Allow to stand for a few hours.    Sprinkle with torn basil leaves and serve with crusty bread.

Check out the Gallery of Regretable Food too, recipes and badly styled food from the 40s, 50s and 60s.   Hours of fun here and a very witty commentary to go with the photos.

They Draw and Cook has some beautifully drawn recipes and makes me regret my complete lack of artistic talent.

Some items on my to cook list are;  potato “risotto” with smoked mackerel,a Lebanese aubergine salad, and some chocolate puddle cookies.

And, lastly is a new blog Mrs Portions Potables which is looks set to become a fantastic resource for all homemade liqueurs.

He is a thoroughly nice bloke too. I have now met him 3 times, and I really enjoy our conversations.  It was a pleasure to provide him with supper, even if I did have to go to Barbican.     If you have not yet fed him do give it a go.   Read about the meal I made for him here, and Danny, I really think you need to give Ocado a trial run.

The August challenge, and my first, from Fresh From the Oven was to make a whole wheat walnut bread.   Like the Daring Bakers, Fresh From the Oven has a new challenge, hosted by one of its members, every month.    For July our host was Sarah from Simply Cooked who chose her recipe from The Neighborhood Bakeshop by Jill Van Cleave.

After some sourdough mishaps, I feel I have lost confidence in my bread making abilities, and am delighted to have joined Fresh From the Oven, and to have the nudge to make bread once a month and am looking forward to building my skills.

I pretty much followed Sarah’s recipe to the letter, but, my sponge starter was made with 50% white / 50% whole wheat flour, and I was out of walnuts and so used pecans instead.  I really like the sponger starter method, and will be using it again as I think that it gives far more flavour and hit of sourdough character to the loaf.   

Whole Wheat Walnut Bread
adapted from The Neighborhood Bakeshop by Jill Van Cleave
makes 2 loaves

1 t active dry yeast, divided
2 c (500 ml) lukewarm water (95 – 110F, 35 – 45C), divided
3 c (380 g) plain bread flour, divided
1 T honey
1 T olive or walnut oil
1 1/2 c (180 g) stone-ground whole wheat flour
1/4 c (40 g) semolina flour, oat flour, or more whole wheat flour
1 t sea salt
1 1/2 c (175 g) coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

First prepare the sponge starter. Dissolve 1/2 t yeast in 1 c (250 ml) lukewarm water in a medium bowl. Let proof until bubbly, about 5 minutes.
Add 1 1/2 c (190 g) bread flour and stir until a thick batter forms. Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature to rise and bubble for 6 to 8 hours. The starter is ready to use now or can be put in the fridge overnight. (Bring it back to room temperature before using.)

Dissolve the remaining 1/2 t yeast with the 1 c (250 ml) lukewarm water in a large bowl. Let proof for about 5 minutes.
Add the sponge starter and mix well. Stir in the honey, oil, whole wheat flour, semolina flour or oat flour (if using), and salt.
Add 1 1/4 c (160 g) of the remaining bread flour gradually to form a stiff dough.
Add the walnuts.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for ten minutes, adding as much of the reserved flour as needed to keep it from being too sticky. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Grease the bowl and return the dough, turning it to coat it in oil. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise until it is doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Divide the dough into two pieces and form into loaves. Place on a baking pan and leave them to rise again, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 400 F/205 C for 30 to 40 minutes, until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Cool on a wire rack.

Ready for the Oven

Delicious.   We had several slices warm with butter, the rest will be for breakfast tomorrow and the second loaf will be sliced and squeezed into the freezer.

Many thanks to Sarah for an excellent challenge and I am looking forward to seeing what August brings.