Mocha Panettone : Bake-Along #89

It's time for Bake-Along. And since Christmas is just round the corner, we thought it would be fun to do a special Christmas theme by baking yeasted breads. Come and join us, bake your favourite Christmas yeasted bread and join Lena, Zoe and myself as we bake-along together with our theme, "Theme : Christmas Yeasted Breads".

I've made a lovely loaf of Mocha Panettone. According to the book, "Panettone is the traditional Italian Christmas bread from Milan. This tall domed loaf is usually filled with dried fruits, for a change try this coffee-flavoured bread studded with chocolate and pine nuts". However I have replaced the pine nuts with dried cranberries.

This Mocha Panettone bakes up really tall. It stands at 7-3/4" high, very impressive!

The dough is mixed in the bread machine right up to the first rising. There's cocoa powder, instant coffee powder and cinnamon, so it smells really, really nice. After the first rising, take the dough out of the bread machine pan, place it on a lightly floured work surface and knead in the chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Shape it into a ball and place it in the prepared pan. This bread will bake up very tall, so prepare the baking pan as per instructions given in the recipe. 

Leave it rise until the dough almost reaches the top of the paper. Brush the top with melted butter and cut a deep cross at the top. Bake as per instructions in the recipe. It smells fantastic while it is baking in the oven!

This bread is really good. The crumbs are soft, fluffy and tastes absolutely wonderful with the aroma from the coffee and cinnamon. Of course, the melted chocolate chips in there with the dried cranberries makes it all the more yummier! It did not last long in my house. We finished the whole loaf by the next day. Absolutely lovely with a cup of hot coffee. 

Mocha Panettone
(adapted from "Bread Machine Kitchen Handbook" Jennie Shapter)
2 tbsp instant coffee powder
140ml/scant 2/3 cup milk
1 egg, plus 2 egg yolks
400gm/3-1/2 cups unbleached white bread flour
15ml/1 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
5ml/1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
75gm/6 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
75gm/6 tbsp butter, softened
1-1/2 tsp easy bake (rapid-rise) dried yeast
115gm Continental chocolate, coarsely chopped (I use chocolate chips)
3 tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted  (I use about 1/3 cup of dried cranberries)
melted butter, for glazing

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the coffee in 30ml/2 tbsp hot water. Pour the mixture into the bread machine pan and then add the milk, egg and egg yolks. If the instructions for your bread machine specify that the yeast is to be placed in the pan first, simply reverse the order in which you add the liquid and dry ingredients.
2. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together. Sprinkle the mixture over the liquid, ensuring that it is completely covered. Add the ground cinnamon. Place the salt, sugar and butter in separate corners of the bread pan. Make a small indent in the centre of the flour (but not down as far as the liquid) and add the yeast.
3. Set the bread machine to the dough setting; use basic dough setting (if available). Press Start. Lightly oil a 15cm/6in deep cake tin (pan) or souffle dish. Using a double sheet of baking parchment that is 7.5cm/3in wider than the depth of the tin or dish, line the container so that the excess paper creates a collar.
4. When the dough cycle has finished, remove the dough from the machine and place it on a lightly floured surface. Knock it back (punch it down) gently. Gently knead in the chocolate and pine nuts (chocolate chips and dried cranberries) and shape the dough into a ball. Cover it with lightly oiled clear film (plastic wrap) and leave it to rest for 5 minutes.
5. Shape the dough into a plump round loaf which has the same diameter as the cake tin or souffle dish, and place in the base of the container. Cover with oiled clear film and leave the dough to rise in a slightly warm place for 45-60 minutes, or until the dough has almost reached the top of the greaseproof paper collar.
6. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Brush the top of the loaf with the melted butter and cut a deep cross in the top. Bake the bread for about 10 minutes.
7. Reduce the oven temperature to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and continue to bake the panettone for 30-35 minutes more, or until it is evenly golden all over and a metal skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean without any crumb sticking to it.
8. Leave the panettone in the tin or dish for 5-10 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack and leave it until it is quite cold before slicing.

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Do stop by Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids, and all our friends who has baked along with us in the linky below :

For our next Bake-Along, we will be baking Ruby Jewel Cookies, from Williams-Sonoma Baking Book, pg 46 or here.  Link your post to our linky which will open from 7th to 16th January. Everyone is welcome to join us! Only current posts please.

A friendly reminder when linking to our linky :

1. Please mention Bake-Along event in your own post linking direct to any of the hosts' post (Joyce, Lena or Zoe)

2. Please link only new and current post, PLEASE FOLLOW THE BAKE OR THEME provided by us. Unrelated post will be deleted.

3. Feel free to display our Bake-Along badge in your post.

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I'm also linking this post to Cook & Celebrate organized by Bake For Happy Kids, Goody 

Foodies and The Domestic Goddess Wannabee.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pissaladiere

As described in the book "Bread Machine Kitchen Handbook", "this French version of an Italian pizza is typical of Nicoise dishes, with anchovies and olives providing the distinctive flavour typical of the region". 

Ever since I've seen recipes using canned anchovies with the descriptions "stir until the anchovies are melted ", I have been curious about how anchovies can be melted. Anchovies is a common ingredient over here in Asian cooking, but what we have over here are usually the dried ones, which we use to make a base for stock and cooked in various dishes and can be deep-fried till crispy as a snack. But I have never come across anchovies that can be "melted" when cooking. Though this Pissaladiere recipe does not require the anchovies to be "melted", I can now fully understand how that can happen when I purchased a can of anchovies in oil.  It is quite costly, more than RM8.00 for one can (product of Spain), and there are only about 8 pieces of anchovies inside! 

These canned anchovies are salted and soaked in oil and are really soft, easily broken to pieces when I remove them and I can see that these can be easily "melted" if cooked further. They are actually very much similar to our local salted mackerel fish (mui heong ham yee), soaked in oil, which are very tender and can be mashed easily. 

This pizza is a healthier version with no presence of any cheese! The dough is soft and I have got to let it rest and stretch a couple of times to fill up the pan.

The result is a nice, fluffy, soft crust. Instead of using tomato sauce for the base as in most pizza, this uses only  a tablespoon or so of Dijon mustard. If you are not a fan of mustard, I guess you can always substitute with your own favourite tomato sauce. The filling are just onions, basil leaves, black olive and anchovies, it is best to break the anchovies to little pieces and scatter all over, as it is quite salty. 

Review from my kids : Where's the cheese? How come there's no cheese on this pizza????  Oops, sorry kids, I did thought of adding some cheese to it, but decided at the last minute to follow exactly as the recipe..maybe next time!!

Overall review : Nice pizza with soft, fluffy crust that would make a great base for any pizza. I enjoyed it with a cup of warm Earl Grey tea.

I'm sharing this with
Cookbook Sunday hosted by Couscous & Consciousness

Exciting Announcement !!!

My baking buddy, Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids will be starting a new blog hop "Cook Like A Star". Each month a celebrity chef will be chosen, and everyone is invited to cook from any of that chosen chef's recipes! "Cook Like A Star" will launch in March and Zoe has chosen Donna Hay as the celebrity chef of the month. Please hop over to Zoe for more details. I hope everyone will join in this exciting blog hop, see you there!

Pissaladiere

(adapted from "The Bread Machine Kitchen Handbook" by Jennie Shapter)

100ml / 3-1/2 fl oz / 7 tbsp water

1 egg

225gm / 8oz / 2 cups unbleached whole bread flour

5ml / 1 tsp salt 

25gm / 1oz / 2 tbsp butter

5ml / 1 tsp easy bake (rapid-rise) dried yeast

For the filling

60ml / tbsp olive oil

575gm / 1-1/4 lb onions, thinly sliced

15ml / 1 tsp Dijon mustard

3-4 tomatoes, about 280gm/10 oz, peeled and sliced (I did not bother peeling)

10ml / 2 tsp chopped fresh basil

12 drained canned anchovies

12 black olives

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Pour the water and egg into the machine pan. If the instructions for your machine specify that the yeast is to be added first, reverse the order in which you add the liquid and the dry ingredients.
2. Sprinkle over the white bread flour, ensuring that it completely covers the water and the egg. Add the salt in one corner of the pan and the butter in another corner. Make a small indent in the centre of the flour (but not down as far as the liquid) and add the easy bake dried yeast.
3. Set the bread machine to the dough setting; use basic or pizza dough setting (if available). Press Start.Then lightly oil a 27 x 20cm/11 x 8 in Swiss (jelly) roll tin (pan) that is about 1cm/1/2 in deep.
4. Make the filling. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the onions over a low heat for about 20 minutes, until very soft. Set aside to cool.
5. When the dough cycle has finished, remove the dough from the machine and place it on a lightly floured surface. Knock it back (punch it down) gently, then roll it out to a rectangle measuring about 30x23cm/12x9in. Place in the prepared tin, and press outwards and upwards, so that the dough covers the base and sides.
6. Spread the mustard over the dough. Arrange the tomato slices on top. Season the onions with salt, pepper and basil and spread the mixture over the tomatoes.
7. Arrange the anchovies in a lattice and dot with the olives. Cover with oiled clear film (plastic wrap) and leave to rise for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Bake the pissaladiere for 25-30 minutes, or until the base is cooked and golden around the edges. Serve hot or warm.

Spinach and Parmesan (Cheddar) Bloomer

A lovely and tasty bread, perfect for sandwich. This bread has a chewy crust and soft texture inside. One  tasty bread! Packed with the delicious taste of the spinach, onions and cheese. The original recipe calls for Parmesan Cheese, but I used Cheddar Cheese instead, as that was what I had. I reduced the salt slightly as the Cheddar Cheese is already salty. 

The onions are sauteed until light brown and spinach is added in. Stir, remove saucepan from heat, keep covered for 5 minutes, stir and leave to cool uncovered. The spinach mixture is then added to the bread pan along with the water and egg. Scatter the bread flour all over, top with grated nutmeg, cheese, salt, sugar and yeast. Set the machine to Basic Dough setting and add in the pine nuts at the sound of the beep. That's it! Let the machine do the kneading!

At the end of the cycle, tip out the dough from the bread pan, it will be a beautiful green, roll it out into a rectangular shape about 1" thick and roll it up like a swissroll from the long side. Place in on a greased baking sheet, with the seams facing up. Cover with lightly oiled cling wrap and leave to rest for 15 minutes. 

Have another greased baking sheet ready. Transfer dough to the second baking sheet, with seams facing down, plump up dough by tucking sides and ends of dough. Cover with lightly oiled cling wrap and leave in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes. Using a sharp knife, make five slashes diagonally on top of dough. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes until cooked.

 A beautiful bread is ready.

This bread has a crusty crust and the insides are soft and nice. It is really tasty, the flavours of the spinach, onions, cheese and grated nutmeg, all combined into one gorgeous bread.

 The spinach and onions are all mashed up in the bread, a great way to get your kids to eat up some veggies!

 The pine nuts added a nice nutty taste. 

We had a simple delicious dinner with bread, a change from our daily rice meals.

Made this into a sandwich with chicken ham slices, lettuce, tomato, cheese slices, mustard, mayo and chilli sauce. I had mine with some Hot Chilli & Jalapeno Relish which my sis bought from London, yum! We had some soup along with the sandwich. And don't forget that cup of Earl Grey! Lovely! This bread recipe is a definite keeper!

I'm sharing this with
Hearth and Soul Hop at Mom's Sunday Cafe
Bake With Bizzy at Bizzy Bakes
Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage


Spinach and Parmesan Bloomer
(adapted from "Bread Machine Kitchen Handbook" by Jennie Shapter)
Makes 1 loaf
15ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
1 onion, chopped
115gm (4oz) fresh young spinach leaves
120ml (generous 4floz / 1/2 cup) water
1 egg
450gm (1lb / 4 cups) unbleached white bread flour
2.5ml (1/2 tsp) freshly grated nutmeg
50gm (2oz/ 2/3 cup) freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I use Cheddar cheese)
7.5ml (1-1/2 tsp) salt  (I use 1-1/8 tsp as Cheddar cheese is already salty)
5ml (1 tsp) granulated sugar
7.5ml (1-1/2 tsp) easy bake (rapid-rise) dried yeast
30ml (2 tbsp) pine nuts

1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the chopped onion and saute until a light golden colour. Add the spinach, stir well to combine and cover the pan very tightly. Remove from the heat and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Then stir again and leave the pan uncovered, to cool.
2. Tip the spinach mixture into the bread machine pan. Add the water and egg. If the instructions for your machine specify that the yeast is to be placed in the pan first, then simply reverse the order in which you add the liquid mixture and dry ingredients.
3. Sprinkle over the white bread flour, ensuring that it completely covers the liquid mixture in the bread pan. Sprinkle the grated nutmeg and the Parmesan cheese over the flour.
4. Place the salt and sugar in separate corners of the bread pan. Make a small indent in the center of the flour (but not down as far as the liquid) and add the easy bake dried yeast.
5. Set the bread machine to the dough setting; use basic raisin dough setting (if available). Press Start. Lightly flour two baking sheets.
6. Add the pine nuts to the dough when the machine beeps or during the last  5 minutes of the kneading process.
7. When the dough cycle has finished, remove the dough from the machine and place it on a surface that has been lightly floured. Gently knock the dough back (punch it down), then carefully roll it out to a rectangle about 2.5cm/1in thick.
8. Roll up the rectangle of dough from one long side to form a thick baton shape, with a square end.
9. Place the baton on the prepared baking sheet, seam side up, cover it with lightly oiled clear film (plastic wrap) and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
10. Turn the bread over and place on the second baking sheet. Plump up the dough by tucking the ends and sides under. Cover it with lightly oiled clear film again and leave it to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
11. Using a sharp knife, slash the top of the bloomer with five diagonal slashes. Bake it for 30-35 minutes, or until it is golden and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Turn the bread out on to a wire rack to cool.

Sage and Sausage Loaf

Slicing into this bread will reveal the hidden treasure inside! Two rolls of delicious sausages takes center stage in this savory loaf of bread. The addition of sage gives a light herby aroma. It has a lovely crust and to enjoy it to the fullest, eat it while still slightly warm. This bread is good on the first day, it is not as soft and fluffy as the Fresh Tomato and Basil Loaf on my earlier post, but it is soft enough.  I find that this bread is not a good keeper, on the second day, it has gone a little stale. Since it has the sausages as its filling, it is advisable to finish the bread by the second day.

The lovely crust.

I could not find any Mediterranean sausages, so I use black pepper sausages, really good too!

So if you intend to have this bread for dinner or late supper, make this in the afternoon, and you will enjoy it at its best, on the day it is baked.

I'm sharing this with 

Full Plate Thursday over at Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Recipe Swap Thursday over at Prairie Story

Sage and Sausage Loaf

(adapted from "Bread Machine" by Jennie Shapter)
Makes 1 loaf
1 tbsp (15ml) sunflower oil
200gm (7oz) spicy Mediterranean sausages
3 eggs
2 tbsp (30ml) water
350gm (12-1/2oz) generous 3 cups unbleached white bread flour
2 tbsp (30ml) skimmed milk powder (non fat dry milk)
2 tsp (10ml) granulated sugar
1-1/2 tsp (7.5ml) salt
1/4 cup (50gm/2oz) butter, melted
1 tsp (5ml) easy bake (rapid-rise) dried yeast
1 tsp (5ml) dried sage
1 egg yolk, to glaze
1 tbsp (15ml) water, to glaze

1. Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan. Add the sausages. Fry them over a medium heat for 7-10 minutes or until cooked, turning frequently. Cool.
2. Add the eggs and water to the bread pan. Reverse the order in which you add the wet and dry ingredients if necessary.
3. Sprinkle over the flour, covering the liquid. Add the milk powder. Place the sugar, salt and butter in separate corners of the pan. Make a small indent in the centre of the flour, add the yeast.
4. Set the bread machine to the dough setting; use basic raisin dough setting (if available). Press Start. Add the sage when the machine beeps or during the last 5 minutes of kneading. Lightly oil a 23x13cm/9x5in loaf tin (pan).
5. When the dough cycle has finished, place the dough on a floured surface. Knock back (punch down) gently. Roll into a rectangle 2.5cm/1in x 23cm/9in.
6. Place the sausages down the centre and roll the dough tightly around them. Place in the tin. Cover with lightly oiled clear film (plastic wrap) and leave to rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. To glaze, mix the yolk and water, brush over the bread and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden. Turn out on to a wire rack to cool.

Cajun Spiced Braid

Over the weekend, my sister came for a visit and she brought over two tubs of frozen chicken stew for my kids, cooked by her. Yesterday, being a school day, I am undecided about what to prepare for the kids' after school meal. Her chicken stew came to mind along with a crusty fresh loaf of bread. I just need to make the bread and reheat the chicken stew, perfect, that would give me some extra time to 'spring-clean' my son's room, stuffs like clothes and toys that he has outgrown, will have to go to the recycle centre. I have been putting this off for so long now.

Her chicken stew is so delicious! I would have to ask her to cook this again, invite us over, and I'll bring the bread!

Found this lovely recipe from my current favourite bread making book, "Bread Machine".  Everything goes into the bread maker, let it do what it is best at, kneading, then take the dough out, punch it down, round it, and divide into three equal sizes.

Roll the three pieces of dough into long ropes, braid them together and place onto lightly greased baking pan, cover with lightly oiled clear film and leave to rise. Uh-oh, look at the braid, it rose so much that the braids has mis-shapen! It is definitely not a pretty braid!  Ha! Ha! Brush the top with some egg glaze and bake.

It is so good! It is crusty on the outside and soft inside. This is so good with the delicious chicken stew!

This bread is a little spicy from the paprika powder, cayenne powder and black pepper, but then my kids are not complaining. They love it! Between the two of them, they finished half the braid!

This is another winning bread recipe from Jennie Shapter!

Cajun Spiced Bread

(adapted from "Bread Machine" by Jennie Shapter)
Makes 1 loaf
1-1/4 cups (300ml/10-1/2 fl oz) water
2 tbsp (30ml) vegetable oil
1 tbsp (15ml) tomato puree (paste)
4-1/2 cups (500gm/1lb 2oz) unbleached white bread flour
1-1/2 tsp (7.5ml) paprika
1 tsp (5ml) cayenne pepper
1 tsp (5ml) dried oregano
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, crushed
1-1/2 tsp (7.5ml) salt
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) sugar
1-1/2 tsp (7.5ml) easy bake (rapid-rise) dried yeast


For The Glaze :
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp (15ml) water

1. Pour the water and vegetable oil into the bread machine pan, then add the tomato puree. If the instructions for your machine specify that the yeast is to be placed in the pan first, reverse the order in which you add the liquid and dry ingredients.
2. Sprinkle over the flour, ensuring that it covers the liquid. Add the paprika, cayenne, oregano, black pepper and crushed garlic. Place the salt and sugar in separate corners of the bread pan. Make a small indent in the centre of the flour (but not down as far as the liquid) and add the yeast.
3. Set the bread machine to the dough setting; use basic dough setting (if available). Press Start. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
4. Once the dough cycle has finished, place the dough on a floured surface. Knock it back (punch it down) and divide into three.
5. Roll the pieces into equal ropes. Put next to each other. From the centre, braid from left to right, working towards you. Press the ends together and tuck under.
6. Turn the dough around and braid the remaining ropes. Place on the prepared baking sheet, cover with oiled clear film (plastic wrap) and leave in a warm place to rise for 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
7. Mix the egg yolk and water for the glaze together. Remove the clear film and brush the glaze over the braid. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden.

Apple Streuselkuchen

The actual recipe from my new favourite bread book, "Bread Machine" by Jennie Shapter is Peach Streuselkuchen. I do not have any peaches, so I use apple instead. This is really good! The bread is soft and fluffy and the topping of apple streusel is wonderful. It is really easy and simple. Between my daughter and myself, we finished almost half the bread! We had this for lunch! A cup of warm Earl Grey tea is really nice with a slice, or two of this lovely bread.

I have made two recipes from this book and I like them both. The first one I made was  a savoury bread, Fresh Tomato and Basil Loaf, a delicious loaf and great as a sandwich bread. I borrowed the book from my sister, and after I've made the delicious Fresh Tomato and Basil Loaf, I decided to get one myself, as I'm dying to try out other recipes. I'm really glad I did. 

Peach (Apple) Streuselkuchen is a German yeast bread with a struesel topping of the mixtures of almonds, flour, butter and cinnamon. I only use about 1/4 teaspoon of the cinnamon instead of 1 teaspoon as given, as my kids do not like the overpowering smell of cinnamon. It actually works out fine with 1/4 teaspoon, the smell of the cinnamon is really light and nice, not too strong.

This is a lovely bread to have for an afternoon tea or as a light lunch. Do not forget to make a cup of warm sweet tea to enjoy these together.

The bread is fluffy and soft, really good.

I'm sharing this lovely bread with 

Cookbook Sundays over at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen

Full Plate Thursday over at Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Recipe Swap Thursday over at Prairie Story

Sweets For A Saturday over at Sweet As Sugar Cookies

Peach Streuselkuchen
(adapted from "Bread Machine" by Jennie Shapter)
100ml / 7 tbsp milk
1 egg
250gm / 2-1/4 cups unbleached white bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
40gm / 3 tbsp caster sugar
25gm / 2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp easy bake (rapid-rise) dried yeast
4 peaches, halved and stoned (pitted) (I use 4 small apples, peeled, cored and sliced thickly)

For the topping :
75gm / 3/4 cup plain flour
40gm / 1/3 cup ground almonds
50gm / 1/4 cup butter, diced and softened
40gm / 4 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Pour the milk and egg into the bread pan. If the instructions for your bread machine specify that the yeast should go in first, reverse the order of wet and dry ingredients.
2. Sprinkle over the flour, ensuring that it covers the milk and egg completely. Then add the salt, sugar and butter, placing them in three separate corners of the bread pan. Make a small indent in the centre of the flour (but not down as far as the liquid) and add the easy bake dried yeast.
3. Set the bread machine to the dough setting ; use basic dough setting (if available). Press Start. Lightly oil a 25cm / 10 in springform cake tin (pan).
4. When the dough cycle has finished, remove the dough from the pan and place it on a lightly floured surface. Knock it back (punch it down) gently, then roll it out to fit the tin. Ease it into position.
5. Slice the peaches thickly and arrange them on top of the dough. Next, make the topping. Rub the flour, ground almonds and butter together until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the topping over the peaches.
6. Cover the dough with lightly oiled clear film (plastic wrap) and leave in a warm place for about 20-25 minutes, to rise slightly. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
7. Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes, or until evenly golden. Leave it to cool in the tin for a few minutes and serve warm, or turn out on to a wire rack to allow to cool completely.

Fresh Tomato and Basil Loaf

My son loves this bread. He had this both for breakfast and lunch on Sunday! If you are looking for a great sandwich bread, this would be it! This bread is great as a simple sandwich for breakfast, with slices of ham and cheese. Delicious for lunch as well, simply add some lettuce, slices of tomatoes, cucumbers and a thick slice of ham or a patty burger, top with some of your favourite sauce, and you will have a very satisfying lunch, with a glass of cold orange juice! 

This is a lovely loaf of bread. I was looking for a sandwich bread and found this recipe from Jennie Shapter's "Bread Machine", this book belongs to my sis, I borrowed it to try out a few recipes, and I picked the right one! Fresh tomato and garden fresh basil leaves with the addition of ground black pepper makes this a really flavorful savoury bread. I reduced the salt from  1-1/2 teaspoons to just a little over 1 teaspoon, which I think is just about right, if you intend to serve this with ham or other savoury filling. If you are serving this to young children, I would advise to go easy on the black pepper. The taste of the black pepper is wonderful, my son did not complain, but the peppery taste is definitely there, and you can feel it with each bite. Perfect for me!

Simple sandwich of homemade bread with slices of ham and cheese makes a satisfying Sunday breakfast!

Good on its own, dipped in soups too!

Fresh basil leaves from the garden!

After twice folded, roll into a log and shape into an "S". Leave in oiled baking pan to rise.

After about an hour, it has risen above the top level of the baking pan. Brush with egg glaze and goes straight into the oven!

Wonderful aroma!

Really tasty!

Enjoy it spread with plain butter and a cup of hot black coffee!

I'm linking this lovely bread with
Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage.
Potluck Sunday at Mommy's Kitchen


Fresh Tomato and Basil Loaf
(adapted from "Bread Machine" by Jennie Shapter)
Makes : 1 loaf
15ml/1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 plum tomatoes, about 200gm/7oz, peeled, seeded and chopped
500gm/1lb 2oz/4-1/2 cups unbleached white bread flour
2.5ml/1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
7.5ml/1-1/2 tsp salt (I use about 1-1/8 tsp, just right)
10ml/2 tsp granulated sugar
5m/1 tsp easy-blend dried yeast
15ml/1 tbsp chopped fresh basil

For the Glaze :
1 egg yolk
15ml/1 tbsp water

1. Heat the extra virgin oil in a small frying pan or saucepan. Add the chopped onion and fry over a moderate heat for 3-4 minutes, until the onion is light golden in colour.
2. Add the plum tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes, until slightly softened. Drain through a sieve placed over a measuring jug or bowl, pressing the mixture gently with the back of a spoon to extract the juices.
3. Set the tomato and onion mixture aside. Make the cooking juices up to 280ml/10fl oz/1-1/4 cups with water (but see Variation). Set aside. When the liquid is cold, pour it into the bread machine pan. If the instructions for your machine specify that the yeast is to be placed first in the pan, reverse the order in which you add the liquid and dry ingredients.
4. Sprinkle over the flour, ensuring that it covers the tomato and onion liquid. Add the ground black pepper, then place the salt and sugar in separate corners of the bread machine pan.
5. Make a small dent in the centre of the flour (but not down as far as the liquid) and add the yeast.
6. Set the bread machine to the dough setting, use basic dough setting (if available). Press Start. Then lightly oil a 23x13cm/9x5in bread tin.
7. When the dough cycle has finished, remove the dough from the bread machine and place it on a lightly floured surface. Knock it back gently.
8. Knead in the preserved tomato and onion mixture and the chopped fresh basil. You may need to add a little extra flour if the dough becomes too moist when you have incorporated the vegetable mixture.
9. Flatten the dough and shape it into a 2.5cm/1in thick rectangle. Fold the sides to the middle and press down the edge to seal. Make a hollow along the centre and fold in half again. Gently roll it into a loaf about 40cm/16in long.
10. Shape into an "S" shape and place in the prepared tin. Cover with oiled clear film and leave in a warm place to rise for 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
11. Make the glaze by mixing the egg yolk and water together. Remove the clear film and brush the glaze over the bread. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until golden.

VARIATION :

To intensify the tomato flavour of the loaf, substitute 15ml/1 tbsp sun-dried tomato puree for 15ml/1 tbsp of water when you are topping up the cooking juices in step 3.