Vessy's day » bread

Blueberry Easter Bread

Vessy — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 12:25:23 +0000

This is my one and only favorite Easter bread recipe. I’ve made this bread so many times that I can’t even count. Every time it turns out great.
Recipe is not complicated, just the opposite – it’s quite easy and straight forward.
The only thing that’s important here is the dough kneading. This dough is way more stickier and softer that a regular bread dough so it’s a bit harder to knead by hand. I strongly recommend you to use a stand mixer with the dough attachment for this recipe or any other food processor with kneading setting you might have.
In case you don’t have such equipment, you can knead the dough by hand but prepare for a good work out because total kneading time is about 30 minutes. If you are doing this by hand just use a rubber spatula and just stir it and push it around the bowl until soft, smooth and glossy. In case you need to use your palms and fingers for the kneading make sure they are greased with butter.
Blueberry jam is one our favorite and I decided to make our Easter bread a little bit more interesting this yer. Feel free to use any other jam of your choice, even nutella will be awesome addition too!
***This bread is best on the day that is baked!
***prepare the dough ahead – make the dough the night before and leave in the fridge covered in plastic wrap. It will slowly rise by the morning. Then take it out and leave it at room temperature for about two hours to warm up. Once at room temperature you may continue with dividing, shaping and prepping for second rise (see the rest of instructions below).
Happy Easter, friends!

Ingredients:
550 grams (19,5 oz) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 packages instant dry yeast
A pinch of salt
240 ml. (8 fl. oz) milk, at room temperature
3 small eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature
120 grams (4 oz) honey
120 grams (3,5 oz) oil at room temperature
Zest from 1 orange
100-150 grams (about 4-5 oz) candied orange peel
1 jar of blueberry jam (or other jam of your choice)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a bread hook, add the flour, salt and yeast. Beat for 15 seconds to distribute the yeast evenly within the flour. Add the milk, eggs and honey and beat for about a minute then add the oil and continue beating for another 20-25 minutes or until you have super smooth and shiny dough. Dough will be a bit sticky, but don’t get tempted to add extra flour. Within the last minute add the orange peel and beat to combine, about a minute.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape the dough to the center of the bowl using a rubber spatula. Dust lightly with flour all around the dough and underneath it, cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Allow to rest in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
*** You could pop that bowl in your oven, set on the lowest possible temperature (enough to warm up the oven a bit, not bake the dough!) for a quicker rise.
Grease a 30 cm (12 inch) round baking pan with butter and set aside.
After rising, gently take the dough out of the bowl, using your hands, greased with oil and place on a large kneading board or on your counter. Don’t knead the dough and be gentle with it, you don’t want to deflate it too much.
Cut dough in half. Gently roll each piece of dough into a large rectangular then spread a thin (or thicker) layer of the blueberry jam. Roll the dough tightly then twist it as much as possible. Gently transfer onto your baking pan. Repeat steps for the other piece of dough.
Set aside to rise again for about 30-45 minutes, depending on the temperature of the room.
Preheat your oven to 180C (350F).
After the second rise, brush dough with lightly beaten egg yolk with a little water and sprinkle some sugar on top (optional).
Bake for 45-50 minutes, lowering the temperature of the oven if you see the top starting to burn.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before serving.

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Sandwich with mozzarella & malidgano

Vessy — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 13:09:32 +0000

Ready in no time, this sandwich is a great breakfast, even brunch, lunch or an afternoon treat.
Healthy and delicious with just a few ingredients.

Ingredients:
Freshly toasted bread sliced
Pepperoni (or other salami of your choice)
Malidgano Mama’s (roasted and mashed eggplants & green peppers, seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper)
Mozzarella cheese, sliced
Arugula (rocket)
Olive oil

Oregano

Salt and pepper

Spread one thick layer of malidgano over a slice of bread. On top arrange one layer of salami, one layer of mozzarella cheese, arugula salad, season with salt and pepper, oregano and sprinkle a little bit of olive oil.

Sandwich with ham and egg

Vessy — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 09:08:18 +0000

Today I am sharing one of my favorite sandwiches!

I believe the combination of ham, egg and avocado is perfect, healthy and delicious but this is not all about this sandwich. The main and most important ingredient here is the ajvar! If you don’t have ajvar on your hands, or you can’t find it in your area, let me tell you what it is – it is a dip, prepared from roasted red peppers, roasted egg plants, seasoned with sunflower oil and sea salt.

It is super delicious and gives a special flavor to this sandwich. You can easily prepare it at home, in advance and store it in a jar for later. Trust me, you have to try it, if you haven’t already!

Ingredients:
Bread
Ajvar Mama’s (ajvar is dip made from roasted red peppers, roasted eggplant, sunflower oil and seasoned with salt)
Ham
Egg
1 ripe avocado
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Oregano

Sprinkle a little bit of olive oil over the bread slices. Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Grill the bread in a grill pan until fine and crispy on the outside.

Cook the egg sunny side up in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Mash the avocado in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Assemble the sandwich:

Spread s little bit of the ajvar over the first slice of bread, top it with the mashed avocado, arrange a couple of slices ham over the avocado and place the second slice of bread on top.

Spread some more of the ajvar and avocado over the second slice of bread and top with ham.

Place another slice of bread over the ham and top with the egg.

Serve immediately or pack for a lunch on the go!

Einkorn bread with seeds

Vessy — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 13:55:43 +0000

It is always better to prepare a homemade bread instead of buying one from the store, not knowing what it might have been prepared of.
Making a bread without a bread maker is not a complicated job, all you need to do is knead the dough twice and bake it. It takes more time to wait it rise than the kneading itself.
This recipe makes one medium bread, full of nuts and seeds. Add whatever seeds you have on hand or prefer.
About the flour – I like to mix different types of flour, this way they will add interesting flavors to the bread and make it more delicious and of course healthier. When you bake a bread with whole wheat flour or other type, different than the all purpose white flour, you have to know that the bread may not get too fluffy and soft as if made with white flour.

Ingredients:
250 grams mixed types of flour (I used 160 grams all purpose flour and 100 grams einkorn flour)
150 ml. warm water
4 grams instant dry yeast (easy bake yeast)
2-3 table spoons olive oil
1 tea spoon salt
1 tea spoon sugar
Mix of seeds (sesame, flax, poppy, chia seeds, sunflower, pumpkin or other raw nuts of your choice)

Add all of the seeds and nuts in a small bowl, cover with warm water and let them soak for about 15 minutes.
In the meantime combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Add the soaked nuts and knead the dough. It will take about 5 minutes of kneading to form a nice dough, a bit hard at first.
Let it rest and rise for about an hour then knead it again. Form the dough in the desired shape and place on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper.
Let it rise again and then bake in a preheated oven to 180C.
Take out of the oven and cover with clean cloth. Let the bread rest for 20 minutes before you slice it.