Spinach and Olive Stuffed Focaccia

Today for the very first time, I tried making bread by myself. Focaccia is one of my favourite kind of breads that are available. I recently saw a video for a stuffed focaccia and thought I would give it a go at home. So I decided to make a stuffed focaccia with a spinach, olive and mozzarella filling.  You can try making this with any kind of fillings that you want.

The recipe I followed-

For the dough:

300g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
5g fast action dried yeast
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
200 ml warm water

For the fillings:

150g of blanched spinach
200g of mozzarella cut into cubes
150g of sliced black olives
1 tsp of thyme
salt to taste
pepper

• Start off by adding the flour, yeast and salt to a large bowl and mix together. Make a well in the centre of the bowl and add in the olive oil. Mix together using a wooden spoon and add the water little by little, mixing in between every stage.
• Once the dough has all come together in the bowl, transfer it to a table top dusted with a little bit of the flour. Knead the dough for about 5-8 mins by folding and using the palm of your hand to make it soft and elastic. If it becomes sticky again, add a little bit of the flour to the table top.
• Shape the dough in a round and place it in a large oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave it in a warm room for 1 hour.

StuffedStuffed Focacciabfskje

• The above picture on the right is of after the dough had risen.
• After the dough has risen, you can start making whatever filling you want. I made one with blanched spinach, olives and mozzarella.
• I started off with blanching the spinach and the squeezed all the water out of it. Chopped the mozzarella into cubes an drained the olives. Mix the 3 ingredients together with thyme and salt to taste. Keep the mixture aside

• Tip over the risen dough in an oiled baking tray and use your fingertips to gently push the dough to the edges of the tray. Once you are happy with the rectangle, sprinkle the spinach mixture over the flattened dough leaving 1cm around the edges.
• Starting from one of the shorter sides roll up the dough like a swiss roll, pressing the side edges as you go along. Make sure the join is underneath at the base of the tray and cover the tray with cling film.
• Leave the tray aside to rise for another 30-40 mins. In the meantime, pre-heat the oven to 200C.
• Once risen, brush the top with olive oil and use a fork to prick holes all over. Sprinkle a little bit of salt before you put the try into the oven.
• Bake for about 30-35 mins or until the surface is golden brown.

I think my focaccia came out alright considering this was the first time I've ever made bread. One of the only mistakes I think I made was that I filled it too much which is why the filling can be seen from the top. Other than that, it tastes very good and I'm happy with the colour on the bake!

Victoria Sponge Cake Minis!

Yesterday I decided to bake a Victoria Sponge Cake and then decided to turn them into minis for my friends at university. I thought it would be better than taking a slice or two of the whole cake for all of them to taste from.

I have found that the sponge for this cake is one the easiest ones to make as all you need to do is just mix the ingredients together in a bowl and then whack it into then oven! I made the cake in a 10-inch cake tin and then cut the minis from there.

The recipe is as follows:

200g self raising flour

200g caster sugar, and a little extra for dusting at the end 

200g unsalted butter softened, not melted

200g eggs (4 eggs)

2tsp baking soda

250ml double cream

Strawberry/ Raspberry jam

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Line the base of a 10-inch cake tin with greaseproof paper.
• Place the self-raising flour, caster sugar, eggs and softened butter in a bowl together. Mix it until there are no more lumps of butter left. 
• Add the baking soda to the mixture.
• Transfer the cake batter from the bowl to the prepared cake tin and level the surface gently.
• Place the tin in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the top is a nice golden brown colour. 
• Once out of the oven, let the cake cool down completely.
• In the meantime, whisk up the double cream until its thickened and transfer it to a piping bag.
• Once the cake is completely cooled, carefully slice the cake using a bread knife. 
• At this stage you can apply the jam and pipe the cream to the base of the cake if you want to keep it as a whole instead of the minis. 
• If you want to make minis, use a cutter that you feel is of the right size for both the layers of the cake individually. From the cake that I made, I got 7 sandwiches in total.
• Once you have all the individual mini cakes, apply a layer of the jam to half the minis and over the jam, pipe the cream as you wish.
• Place the second layers of the sponge over the piped cream and sprinkle some caster sugar over the tops.

There you have it, Victoria Sponge Cake Minis!

A new find for good pub food in London!

Catching up with a friend is always better when there is food involved. Well, at least that's what I believe. So when a friend was stopping over in London for a day, we decided to go to The Pheasant Inn and Restaurant in Harlington near Heathrow Airport which was recommended to him by a friend.

I can honestly say that I was surprised by this pub/ restaurant. The food was incredible and the portions were more than sufficient. When we ordered our food, we did not think the portions would be as big as they were and so as usual, we over-ordered. We probably spent about £40 in total for 4 people, i.e. leaving drinks aside. This price for this much food at a pub in London is actually really extraordinary!




That is all the food we had among the four of us. I can certainly say that we ordered quite a bit more than we actually needed. We had everything ranging from Chilli Con Carne with rice and nachos to Lasagne with chips to Mussels Marinere in white wine and cream sauce with bread. For sides, we ordered onion rings, calamari sticks, avocado and prawn with a marie rose sauce. All of this food was definitely way more than enough for us!

After we finished dinner we sat there for the next 2 hours having a couple of drinks and chatting as no one was in a hurry to leave. Overall the place was pretty crowded but it was a nice meal and certainly time well spent.

Dairy- Free Chocolate Brownie Cookies!

On Christmas day, my friends and I were invited for a Christmas dinner and I decided to bake some of these delicious treats! This chocolaty goodness is called a Brownie Cookie. 

When I was deciding on what to make for the dinner party, I couldn't make up my mind between baking a cake or these brownie cookies. The reason I resolved on baking these is because of the fact that they are easy to eat while compared to a cake. These are perfect for something like a dinner party or a kids birthday party. During the party, the guests can even enjoy it with a glass of Prosecco or Champagne.

Just as a warning, the recipe below makes about 50- 60 of these cookies. I took almost the whole lot to the party and came back with an empty tray. They were quite a hit so the quantity wasn't an issue at all.

Prep: 20-25 mins

Cook: 8-10 mins

What you will need for the brownie cookies:

85g cocoa powder

400g caster sugar

110ml vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

250g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon table salt

60g icing sugar

 1. Combine the cocoa powder, caster sugar and vegetable oil together in a medium sized bowl.

2. Beat in the eggs one by one and mix in the vanilla essence.

3. Combine together the flour, baking powder and table salt. Mix it in with the cocoa mixture. Cover the dough and chill for about 4 hours.

4. Preheat the oven to 180C/ gas mark 4. Line the baking trays with grease-proof paper. In a separate small plate, pour some icing sugar. Spoon out some of the dough and roll it into approx 2.5 cm balls. Then roll it into the icing sugar and place on the prepared baking tray. 

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 mins. Once they are taken out of the oven, let them rest in the baking tray for a minute before taking them out and placing them on wire racks to cool.

Hope you enjoy these delicious chocolaty treats! If you try them out, let me know how it goes :)

A Very Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to check in to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Have a great time with family and friends :) I know I haven't blogged much during this year, but I have challenged myself to make a change and to do better in the new year.

I will have a recipe going up for BROOKIES (brownies + cookies) in the next couple of days. This is a very good recipe for a snack/ treat for a New Year's party or get together!

Once again, Merry Christmas to all!