Wednesday, April 30, 2025

 https://www.facebook.com/forkandroots


This website is hard to follow. At least it is for me. I saw this recipe and have wanted to experiment with red lentils for a while. I will get back here when I try it.

Already, I think I would use the air fryer instead of bake. Not sure I have or love nutritional yeast. I know it is supposed to be good for you. It has been years since I tried it so...





Rich Lentil Puffs


Ingredients:
- 1 cup red lentils, cooked and mashed
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup plant-based milk
- 1/4 cup flour
- Cooking spray

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, mix together mashed lentils, breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, parsley, and nutritional yeast.
3. Gradually add plant-based milk until the mixture holds together.
4. Shape the mixture into small puffs and roll each puff in flour.
5. Place the puffs on the prepared baking sheet and lightly spray with cooking spray.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
7. Serve hot as a delicious appetizer or snack.

Friday, April 18, 2025

It is Good Friday so time for hot crossed buns.


https://www.recipetineats.com/hot-cross-buns-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-20398

Ingredients For the 3 of us, I made half this recipe. It was plenty with leftovers.
This recipe was easy for me to follow. If you need more directions, go to the original website and watch the video.

Buns:

  • 3 teaspoons instant or rapid rise yeast (9 grams)
  • 1/2 cup (110g) castor sugar I always use less than they suggest.
  • 1 1/2 cups (375ml) lukewarm milk
  • 4 1/4 cups (640g) flour ( bread flour is preferable, I used regular flour
  • 2 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 2 tsp All Spice or your favorite spice mixture (Note 4)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups (210g) raisins (Note 4)
  • 1 – 2 oranges, zest  (Note 4)
  • 50g / 3.5 tbsp  unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 egg 

Extra Flour for dough

  • 1/4 cup (35g) Extra flour

Crosses: 

  • 1/2 cup (75g) flour 
  • 5 tbsp water
    I did not do these crosses, but next time I will. I made white icing and drizzled after they were cooked.

Glaze:

  • 1 tbsp apricot jam (I used honey for this. Interesting addition.
  • 2 tsp water

Instructions

  • Mix dry – Place flour, yeast, sugar, all spice, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to mix up.
  • Add wet – Add butter, milk, egg, raisins and zest.
  • I kneaded the mixture by hand for 10 minutes or until smooth.
  • Alternatively you could use a standmixer.
     
    Mix for 5 minutes until a smooth elastic dough forms. Start on speed 2 then once the ingredients are combined, increase to speed 4. After 1 minute, add extra flour if required, just enough so dough comes away from side of bowl when mixing and doesn't stick terribly to your fingers. 

Rise #1:

  • Leave dough in the bowl, cover with cling wrap and place in a warm, wind free place to rise until doubled in size.  I put it in the dryer for 40 minutes. What a great idea.

Forming Balls:

  • Line a 31.5 x 23.5 cm / 9 x 13″ tray with baking paper .
  • Remove cling wrap and punch dough 
  • Dust work surface with flour, place dough on work surface, shape into a log – this will deflate the air. Cut into 12 equal pieces.
  • Take one piece and press down with palm, then use your fingers to gather into a ball, then roll the dough briefly to form a ball. This stretches the dough on one side and that’s how I get a nice smooth surface.
  • Place the ball with the smooth side up on the tray. Repeat with remaining dough. Line them up 3 x 4.

Rise # 2:

  • Spray a piece of cling wrap lightly with oil (any), then loosely place over the tray.
  • Return tray to warm place and leave 40 minutes, until the dough has risen.
  • Partway through Rise #2, preheat oven to 180°C/350°F .

Crosses:

  • Mix flour and water until a thick runny paste forms.
  • Spoon into a round 3 mm piping bag or small ziplock bag then snip corner.
  • Remove the cling wrap and pipe crosses onto the buns. Go slow so it hugs the curves. I cut off too much from the ziplock bag so be careful.

Baking/Glaze:

  • Bake in preheated oven (180°C/350°F) for 22 minutes, or until the surface is a deep golden brown.
  • Meanwhile, place honey and water in a bowl, microwave for 30 seconds. Mix to combine.
  • Remove buns from oven. Put buns on cooling rack.
  • Brush with jam mixture while warm. 

Here are some notes that came with the recipe.Recipe Notes:

1.  Yeast: Use any yeast labelled instant or rapid rise yeast. .
2. Milk warmth – Very hot milk kills the yeast. I heat it for 30 seconds in the microwave. The test is this: stick your finger in. If it was a bath, would it be nice? Good. 
3. Breads are also fluffier and more tender if made with bread flour rather than normal flour. 
4. Flavourings
  • Spices – All Spice is my default, but I also use Mixed Spice too and no one would ever know the difference. Sub with: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp each cloves and nutmeg
  • Sultanas: Some recipes say to add sultanas after the dough has been kneaded or risen. If you do this, you’ll find it very hard to disperse them evenly throughout the dough. By adding them before kneading, some do get squished. But it’s not noticeable in the end result.
  • Orange – use 2 oranges if you want a more prominent orange flavour, or switch for 1/2 cup candied citrus peel.
  • Choc chips! Use 2 cups instead of the sultanas (any more and you end up with quite a gooey melted chocolate centre!)
5. Dough: Takes ~5 min, speed 2 with KitchenAide. Add the extra flour if required so the dough comes away from the bowl – the trick is to use the minimum to keep the dough soft so it rises easily (= fluffy buns), but just enough so the dough doesn’t massively stick to your fingers (should be bit sticky though). Tough dough from too much flour = tough buns!
6. WARM PLACE for dough: This is what I do all year round – use my dryer. Laugh – but try it! Run the (empty) dryer for 1 – 2 minutes, then place the bowl inside. If you do that, the dough will rise in 40 minutes. Even if it’s snowing outside!
7. Jam – sub with any jam to get the glossy finish. Apricot is best because it’s clear(ish). Red jams will have more colour. OR sub with honey or golden syrup (follow same amount and directions). Maple syrup – skip the water.
8. STORING / MAKE AHEAD:
  • Make today, bake tomorrow – Do Rise #1 then follow steps to form the balls per the recipe and place in tray, ready to do Rise #2. Except put it in the fridge instead. Leave overnight. Then remove from fridge and put it in a very warm place. Once the fridge chill is gone and the dough is back at room temperature, it will then start the Rise #2 as per the recipe. It takes 2.5 – 3.5 hrs to finish Rise #2 after taking it out of the fridge. Then bake per recipe! (Bonus: They are even tastier if you make ahead because the dough develops flavour overnight!)
  • Best served on day it’s baked: As with all homemade bread, it is best served on the day it’s baked. Stays fresher and softer if you use bread flour.
  • For the day after, reheating makes all the difference to make them soft and moist again – 15 sec in the microwave! These freeze great, then just defrost. To reheat batches, I pop them on a tray and cover with foil (to avoid the surface getting too crisp), then reheat at 160C/320F for 8 minutes or so.