member blog: mrs_master
mrs_master
From
Melbourne Australia
Member since
22nd Dec 2007
About
This is the first blog I've done but what better place to start than my favourite website. I live on the Mornington Peninsula south east of Melbourne in Australia.
The only things I knew how to cook when I moved out of home were chilli con carne and spaghetti bolognaise. From there I learned from friends, lovers and books. In the past 10 years the internet and television cooking shows have been added inspiration. I began my love affair with cooking all things sweet and fattening like biscuits, cakes and pies. As the years have gone by my sweet tooth is not so demanding and now I focus mostly on our main meals at dinner time.
I live on a suburban block where we are lucky to have enough space for a vege patch. We do rent so we haven't spent much on our garden. We have our own compost; the compost bin was already here when we arrived, just a bottomless plastic tub with a lid. The garden was so overgrown with weeds when we first moved in it took my partner, my father and I three full days of weeding and bagging rubbish to discover the garden beds. We have reworked some of it with shovels, sweat and left over bricks that were behind the garden shed. We invested a few dollars in some herb plants, native trees and chicken poo. The soil here is a clay based soil but the compost has done wonders on the vege patch in the last 2 years and is now full of worms and black healthy soil. I'm not the best gardener in the world but this year I'm going to get some more focus and enthusiasm for my garden and see if I can build a stronger relationship with soil and plants.
mrs_master's blog posts
BBQ Cajun Chicken thighs
Sun 14 Feb 2010GENERAL BLOG
Im posting up this in response to the Running out of BBQ ideas thread. We ended up having the chicken, thighs with bone and skin on, with a side mexican rice and a kind of aisan influenced salad I made up.
4 COMMENTS
Dinner rolls using 00 flour upclose
Wed 30 Dec 2009GENERAL BLOG
The upclose shot of the 00 rolls.
0 COMMENTS
Dinner rolls made with 00 flour
Wed 30 Dec 2009GENERAL BLOG
I finished my experimenting yesterday with the dinner rolls. I used the exact same recipe as my first batch but used 00 flour instead of the no name plain flour. The result, not a remarkable difference. I did make the second ones a little bigger and only ended up with 9 but they cooked the same, I noticed the 00 rolls were a tinsy winsy bit lighter and softer than the plain flour ones but no where near enough difference to justify the cost of the 00 flour. I would use it however if I was cooking for the Queen... maybe.
Light and fluffy dinner roll
Tue 29 Dec 2009GENERAL BLOG
This was the end result of the dinner rolls after they had completely cooled. Of course I lathered this one in real butter and ate it immediately.
Homemade dinner rolls
Tue 29 Dec 2009GENERAL BLOG
We go through alot of dinner rolls in summer, they are used mainly along side steak and salad. I have finally christened the dough hook on the KitchenAid! I am doing some experimentation here. I have read often that the best flour to use is 00, that tends to be a bit of a downer for me, given that it costs $3 a kilo. I can buy my bread for less, I understand its no the same as baking it at home but thats the practical side in me coming out. I decided to see how the bread would come out by sifting my cheap no name plain flour 3 times and added bread improver. My plain flour is $1 a kilo and the bread improver was only $2.50 for 250 grms (only 5 grms used per loaf, pretty cheap investment in my books). I do have 00 flour, which I'll try next to see what the difference is. So far Im very happily surprised by the result, the bread came out crusty on the outside and soft and delish on the inside, I will post a pic of the bread roll opened too. Heres the recipe I used.
White dinner rolls - yeild 12
3 tsps (10grms) dry yeast
1/2 cup of warm water
2 tsps sugar
2/12 cups (375 grms) plain white flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of bread improver
30grms butter, melted
1/2 cup (125 mls) tepid water
To top
1/4 cup poppy seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup of milk
1. Combine yeast, water and sugar in bowl, mix together and set aside for about 10 mins or until mixture is frothy on top.
2. Sift flour 3 times, add salt and bread improver. Add warm milk, melted butter and yeast mix and form a dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. I did all of this in the kitchenAid so it was just a matter of mixing the dry ingredients on setting 1 with the flat stirrer thingy and then adding the wet ingredients, once the mix was becoming a dough I stuck on the dough hook and turned the speed to 2 letting it knead for about 7 or 8 minutes. I did have to add about 1/2 cup more of flour while the mixer was being kneaded due to the stickyness, but I imagine thats because I wasnt kneading on a floured surface.
3. When dough is soft and elastic, (its ready when you press it with your finger and it bounces back), place it in a bowl with a wee bit of olive oil in it so it doesnt stick, cover with a clean tea towel and allow to rise in a warm, draft free area. My kitchen temp was about 24 C, so I just sat it on the bench. Put it in a cold oven with a jug of boiled water if your kitchen is too cold. The dough should double in size in about an hour, if it hasnt just leave a little longer until it has.
4. Once doubled in size, knock it down with your fist. This dough recipe makes 12 dinner rolls. Take a handful of dough about the size of 2 golf balls and roll into a dinner roll shape. Roll in sesame seeds or poppy seeds until coated. Place on greased oven tray, slash the top with a knife, and brush with milk. The seeds and slashing are optional definately brush with milk to help with browning. Allow to rise on tray for another 15-20 mins. Preheat oven to 210 C, place rolls on middle rack and bake for 20 minutes. Dont be tempted to take them out too soon, they may look brown but wont be cooked on the inside. I turned my oven down to 190 C in the last 5 minutes because I was worried they would burn, they didnt, but my oven runs hot so I didnt want to take any chances. When done, transfer to a wire cooling rack. Allow the rolls to cool completely before cutting, I know its tempting but the rolls are still cooking and its best to let them cool completely to finish off.
mrs_master's foodwise posts
