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    Friday, January 28, 2011

    And The Rains Came Down- But we had Excellent Bread

    Whangaroa not so pretty today. The promised Cyclone came and has now passed over us. Still blowing a bit but the rain has gone. 24 hours of persistent rain.
    Thursday it looked like this
    Ms Mary chopping chopping for our Frittata lunch
    That was Thursday
    This is Friday
    Time for soup and bread. It was still a warm day but pretty miserable.

    I made a simple Tomato and Bean Soup
    2 tbs Olive oil
    1 onion chopped
    Leftover steak chopped into tiny piece
    Can tomatoes
    Stock cubes dissolved in a can of water
    Can of Cannelini Beans drained
    Parsley finely chopped
    Basil leaves torn

    Heat oil in pan
    Add onion and garlic
    Cook till soft not brown
    Add steak
    Season S & P
    Add tomatoes break up
    Add stock dissolved in water
    Bring to boil and simmer for about 15 minutes
    Add beans and parsley
    Simmer another 15 minutes

    Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary
    Serve with basil leaves torn over the top.
    I have been making pizza bread for ages and have a very simple recipe
    I decided to use the same recipe and make some Foccacio style bread
    The difference was extra time in kneading and rising.
    Gave it 3 rises
    The result Very Excellent bread

    2 cups High Grade flour
    1 tsp salt
    1 tsp sugar
    1 sachet dried yeast
    Slug of olive oil
    around 200 mls hand hot water

    Put your flour in a bowl
    add the salt sugar yeast and oil

    Just place them around the bowl. salt can kill yeast so keep them separate till its time to mix.
    Add most of the water, the idea is to have a wettish dough but not sticky
    Below... too dry add more water just a little at a time
    Easier to add flour than water, When dough leaves the sides of the bowl
    Knead until it form a nice ball about 5 minutes
    Oil the bowl, Place the dough back in toss around till it is coated in oil
    Leave about 45-50 minute still doubled in size
    Roll out to a rectangle shape and place into a tin, already oiled

    Leave about another 20- 30 minutes
    With your fingers make dimples in the dough
    drizzle with good olive oil
    I sprinkle with salt or you could put some olives in the holes or maybe rosemary and garlic
    On this occasion...plain
    Leave it to rise another 10 minutes while you heat you oven.
    200C
    My old oven on the boat is a bit temperamental
    It is either hot or not
    The bread takes about 15 minutes in this oven
    Leave it to rise another 10 minutes while you heat you oven.
    200C
    My old oven on the boat is a bit temperamental
    It is either hot or not

    The bread takes about 15 minutes in this oven
    We woke up this morning to a muddy bay. It looks like horrible
    Looking like The River Plate In Argentina
    We want to look like this
    Much nicer for swimming etc


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