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!