Merry Christmas Panattoni New Year

I was at the plot today for the Christmas veg, but rather more warming is the panattoni I baked today. 

It is probably a whole year since I last baked one so I was well pleased to get a good rise!

Another recent Italian bake has been Taralli.  These are rusky textured snacks made from /flour, olive oil salt and white wine. Each batch is then flavoured with fennel seeds, chilli, black pepper or rosemary. Different family members have different favourites so I am encouraged by requests for more of each! You drop them into boiling water before baking to a crunchy consistency. Then they keep for ages in an airtight container.  I made these a few days in advance. (The rolling is rather labour intensive.)

Wishing all readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

No Knead Bread

After making this bread I had to decide how to market it.  It has the following claims.

• No additives  
• Simple ingredients (Flour, water, salt)
• 100% Rye
• Wholemeal
• Sourdough
• No kneading required

You can tell by the title which I decided to go for.  You really just mix the ingredients and pour into a tin and wait.  There is no point in kneading as rye has such a low gluten content.

By the way it takes 2 days to make. It Russian Rye from Andrew Whitley's Bread Matters book,  Provided you don't rush it you get a good aerated bread. The plastic bag, by the way, is there for a reason: to store the bread for a day or two while the crumb becomes less "gummy". It works.

I would like to add caraway seeds but the rest of the household are refusniks on that front. (They will also, to be totally honest, only eat this toasted).

This has been a most encouraging bake and I am might even go for a pumpernickel in the near future!

Pitta Patter Parsnip

Rustling up a batch of pitta bread I was pleased with the results. Can you spot the one that refused to puff up?

Back at the plot there is not much happening since the fall in temperature. It's all swede cabbage and parsnip.  Here's a snap of the first parsnips pulled: