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Saturday 3 September 2016

Summary Of A Pretty Talent's Bread Recipes 1-50

I have shared a number of lovely bread recipes with you over the course of the past couple of months. Included in these are sweet and savory varieties, some rusks and even some tea cakes. While most of the recipes make use of yeast or sourdough, some use baking powder or baking soda as raising agent. These recipes have been conveniently collected in this one summarizing blog so you could have a quick and ready access to these blogs. Happy baking!


Blog 1 - Baking a Garlic, Chili & Cheese Loaf
"I have become fascinated with bread of late and am experimenting with a lot of recipes. One that found great favour with the family over the holiday season was a savoury loaf I baked with garlic, chili and cheese in it. I did not have a lot hope that my sisters-in-law would like it, as they are very squeamish when it comes to chillies, but even they went back for second and third helpings. That decided it; it was a recipe I had to share with you."


Blog 2 - Sesame Seed Bread
"Today we will be baking a lovely Sesame Seed Bread with wholewheat flour. As mine is intended for a potjiekos as a side dish, I choose to bake it in rolls so that it can be served as a tear and share bread. This makes it so much easier to serve when gathering outside around the fire. Always try to keep in mind the type of gathering when deciding the shape your bread should take."


Blog 3 - Mixing Your Own Sour Dough Starter
"We have become so accustomed to bread and other baked goods made with instant yeast that most of us had forgotten about the rich flavours and aromas afforded us by baking with a natural sour dough. Not familiar with this? I had to explain this to my brother the other day, as well. Sour dough is developed when we mix a basic dough to which we add a natural reactor. We let this stand for a few days, allowing a process of fermentation to develop. When all is ready, we have a dough with live cultures that will leaven our baked goods adding that distinctive sour dough flavour. I show you how I learned to start my own sour dough in today's blog and then we can put it to use in upcoming projects."


Blog 4 - Baking an Olive Bread fit for Italy
"Olives. You either hate them or you love them. I fall into the latter category and can hardly think of enough uses for that delectable little fruit. Small wonder then that my experimentation with bread brought me to a recipe for baking olive bread. I baked this one during the course of a morning and it was ready for early lunch. Very easy to do."


Blog 5 - Baking a Sourdough Bread from a Discarded Starter
"In a previous blog I shared in detail my successes and failures in growing a sourdough starter. Not wanting to discard any of the mixture, I kept saving it, until it had grown into a phenomenal amount of mixture. I decided to attempts baking a loaf of sourdough bread with this and, thinking that you might be as interested as I am in the results, decided to to record the process photographically. This blog reflects that record, with explanations of the process added."


Blog 6 - Homemade Pizza, made with Sourdough
"Who does not love Pizza? I know that it is a great favourite with everyone in my family. I have been wanting to try my hand at making homemade pizza dough for a while and somehow never got around to it. Today was going to be the day when I finally did. I searched through a number of recipes, but could not find any that used sourdough. In that case there was only one thing to do; make my own adjusted recipe from what I've read. I will give you alternative steps for using yeast as I walk you through the steps, allowing your the option of selecting what works best for you."


Blog 7 - Baking Rye Bread with a Sourdough Starter
"I suppose you either love Rye Bread, or you loathe it. I love it! I have to admit that I find a 100% Rye Bread simply too chewy and heavy for my taste and therefore prefer to mix the rye with some other grains. Perusing a number of recipes for Rye Bread has led me to conclude that this must be true for most people as most recipes have the rye mixed with other flours. I bake my own mixture in today's blog, using the sourdough starter discards that I have blogged about before. I'll give tips for alternative raising agents throughout the blog, if you do not have a sourdough starter ready."


Blog 8 - Baking Sweet White Rusks with a Sourdough Starter (alternative options given)
"It is not news to regular readers of the blog that I am nurturing a sourdough starter. The problem is that we are in the middle of a heatwave that has temperatures sky rocketing to record highs. This is not the ideal climate to bake in. The result is that my starter has now grown to phenomenal proportions and I took advantage of the first break in the weather to bake. In today's blog I will show you how I adapted an ages old recipe for Sweet White Rusks so I could use my sourdough starter. However, since I know that everybody does not have a starter ready, I will also share the use of alternative raising agents in the blog."


Blog 9 - Baking Mosbolletjies with a Sourdough Starter
"I still had lots of sourdough starter left after the extreme heatwave we experienced drove me out of the kitchen. As a result, I baked up a storm as soon as the weather broke and high on my list of priorities was baking Mosbolletjies using my sourdough starter. I adapt an old recipe to use my starter, but share the use of alternative raising agents in the blog as well."


Blog 10 - Using a Sourdough Starter to Bake White Bread
"I am still having great fun with the sourdough starter I shared with you in one of the previous blogs. I decided it was high time I found out how it would fare if I baked a normal white loaf with it. And that is how it came to be that I baked white bread at home, instead of buying at the nearest shop. I hope I'm not giving it all away when I say that the test warranted the effort, leaving me very satisfied with the results."


Blog 11 - Baking Italian Panettone with your Sourdough Starter
"It certainly isn't news to anyone that I have fallen in love with the delicious flavours added to my baked products since I started using my own home-grown sourdough starter as a raising agent. The problem is that the starter is alive and growing. This keeps me on my toes and I need to keep on baking if I don't want the starter to take over my life. I decided it was time for something a little foreign for today's baking experiment. I would try my hand at baking an Italian Panettone. This could easily be my favorite of all the attempts to date. Let me know what you think."


Blog 12 - Baking Focaccia with a Sourdough Starter (alternatives given)
"We are mostly familiar with Focaccia being a pizza without the toppings in South Africa. Really it is a very delicious yeast bread that is served flat, like pizza, flavoured with toppings of your choice, but recognizably without the melted cheese indulgence. In today's blog I show you how to use your sourdough starter to bake this Italian delicacy as a perfect side dish. I give tips for using alternative raising agents as well, if you do not have a sourdough starter ready."


Blog 13 - Baking a Hungarian Split Farmhouse Loaf
"I am having so much fun trying out a variety of bread recipes from around the world. What makes it even more fun is that I can bring you on the journey with me by means of these blogs. Just a pity it isn't possible to cut yourself a slice! Today we visit Hungary to bake one of this country's signature loaves, the Split Farmhouse loaf. If you research this recipe, you will find that it has the same basic ingredients across the board. However, since I am not a fan of White Bread, I swapped out some of the ingredients to give it my own South African(?) twist. Don't worry, I'll give you the original recipe as well, if you want to stick to it. As always, I will be using the sourdough starter blogged about earlier, while giving tips for using alternative raising agents as well."


Blog 14 - Baking American Monkey Bread with a Sourdough Starter (alternatives given)
"When I came across this recipe in one of my recipe books, I immediately knew I would have to try it. What can be better than a slightly sweet bread filled with nuts and raisins? It simply looked and sounded too delicious not to bake it at least once. But, having a growing sourdough starter in the house, it was a no-brainer that I would have to adapt the recipe to use this. I'll share the alternative options for other raising agents with you as always."


Blog 15 - Baking Jewish Challah with Rye Flour and a Sourdough Starter
"Jewish Challah is a plaited yeast bread that is eaten with festivals. I adapt this popular dish to include a little Rye flour and to use my sourdough starter. As always, I will also give directions for using other raising agents."


Blog 16 - Baking a Moroccan Holiday Bread Using a Sourdough Starter (alternatives given)
"This bread is incredibly tasty due to the use of various seeds both in the dough and sprinkled on top. It is a little heavier in texture than many another bread. This is as a result of the use of polenta in the dough. However, since the polenta makes up such a small percentage of the flours added, the bread can certainly not be called too heavy. Truly a brilliantly beautiful bread to eat."


Blog 17 - Baking 'Ultimate Braai Broodjies'
"My mom shared a post for 'Ultimate Braai Broodjies' with me on Facebook. It was a recipe she had encountered on someone else's wall. She suggested we gave it a try, and as it seemed absolutely delicious, and she arrived home with a packet of ready dough, the two of us set out immediately to do prepare dinner - without the braai! There were a couple of snags in the recipe and I'll walk you through it. As good as it looks? Our conclusion: Even better!"


Blog 18 - Baking Oatmeal Bread with a Sourdough Starter (alternatives given)
"In today's blog we are going the healthy route, baking an Oatmeal Bread. The flavours in this bread are simply delicious and you will not regret having tried it. Unlike most breads it is made with milk. The combination of the milk and oats is where it derives its flavours from. Now add your Sourdough Starter and it can only get better. As always, I do discuss alternative raising agents as well."


Blog 19 - Date, Almond & Cherry Coffee Cake With A Sourdough Starter (alternatives given)
"I found this delicious looking recipe for a Coffee Cake in one of my recipe books and decided to try it out. As per usual, for me, I adapted the recipe so that I could use my Sourdough starter. I also changed the suggested fillings of the original recipe completely. I give advice for using alternative raising agents in the blog as well."


Blog 20 - Baking Italian Pane al Cioccolato with a Sourdough Starter
"What to do when your Sourdough starter has grown to the point where you HAVE to use it, but you really crave some sweet chocolate? Bake an Italian Chocolate Loaf! Today's recipe is one that I adapted from one of my favorite recipe books so I could use my sourdough starter. As always, I will give advice for using other raising agents in the recipe."


Blog 21 - Baking Brown Bread with a Sourdough Starter
"It took running out of bread in the house for me to realize that I have neglected sharing this very easy recipe for baking everyday brown bread with a sourdough starter with you. What is brilliant about this recipe is that if you take a careful look at the list of ingredients on your Low GI bread in the shops, you will notice that they use largely the same ingredients. This bread really will sustain you much longer than most. As always, I give advice for using alternative raising agents as well."


Blog 22 - Baking and Serving French Couronne with a Sourdough Starter
"French Couronne is a basic white bread, shaped like a giant doughnut. What makes it exceptionally brilliant is the fact that it is traditionally started with a Chef, better known to us as a Sourdough Starter. Most recipes will start you with instructions for starting your chef, but you can use the Sourdough Starter we have been using with great success in this recipe. I share the recipe with you and then end it with a lovely serving suggestion at the end."


Blog 23 - Baking Sicilian Sfincione, Using Sourdough to Add Flavour
"We have been baking a lot of products where we used our sourdough starter as a raising agent. In today's blog it will give slight rise to our dough, but mostly, we will be using it to add flavour to the dough. We bake a Sicilian Sfincione, which is Sicily's version of Italian Pizza."


Blog 24 - Baking Wholewheat & Rye Pistolets with a Sourdough Starter
"Pistolets are small round buns with a hard crust and a soft center, that originate from Brussels. We put our own twist on these delicacies when we bake them with a wholewheat and Rye combo in today's blog. As usual, I will be using my sourdough starter, but I will also give advice for using other raising agents in the blog."


Blog 25 - Making a Sourdough Starter (without the pitfalls)
"I have written an extensive blog about making your own Sourdough Starter in an earlier blog. In that blog I have discussed a number of pitfalls and walked you through the trials and errors of my own attempts. Yet, I have had a number of people asking me to reduce this method to own only the essential steps. This blog does just that. If, during the process, you have more questions, you may want to refer back to the original blog, which you can read here."


Blog 26 - Baking a One Each Loaf with a Sourdough Starter
"This is a very tasty loaf that gets 1 cup each of four different types of flour. Add to that your sourdough starter to make it rise, and you have one of the most flavorful loaves you will ever eat, aside from the ones you add fruit and other ingredients to. This recipe is one I return to regularly for our everyday household bread and I am sure you will too, once you've tried it."


Blog 27 - Baking a Fruity Almond Twist With a Sourdough Starter
"The twist in the title is literally derived from the fact that we divide our dough in half and then twist the two dough ropes into each other when we make this delicious tea bread. There are many variations of tea bread available, but I love the freshness that the lemon bring to this one. As usual, I will be using my sourdough starter, but I will also give advice for using other raising agents in the blog."


Blog 28 - Baking Khachapuri from Georgia with a Sourdough Starter
"Khachapuri is a cheese pastry/bread from Georgia. It is a very rich dish where the cheese filling is baked inside a bread dough, resulting in a food parcel that is simply delicious. I share my own take on this traditional recipe with a couple of twists in the dough as well as the filling. One of these days I am also going to make cheesy garlic parcels for a braai using this recipe. I think that will be absolutely lovely! I use my sourdough starter as this always adds more flavour to the dough, but will give advice for using alternative raising agents as well."


Blog 29 - Baking a Curry & Garlic Tray Bread Using a Sourdough Starter
"This bread is the perfect accompaniment to a potjie or a braai. You can determine for yourself how strong you want to make the filling, but I like it strong enough to feel it nibbling back without kicking me in the gut. Basically you stretch your dough into a tray and then you pour your filling over. Stick it in the oven and enjoy the results."


Blog 30 - Baking a Three-Flour Bread (Melette's Bread) with a Sourdough Starter
"While visiting a friend recently, she became so enthusiastic about the idea of a sourdough starter, that she insisted we immediately start one for her as well. As I was staying over for a few days, it seemed a brilliant idea and we set about doing just that. Naturally, she wanted us to bake a loaf of bread with it as soon as it was ready. In honour of my visit I rummaged through her grocery cupboard (with permission)  and put together the following recipe from what I found. It turned out absolutely delicious and I will definitely bake this one again. Fortunately, I had my camera at hand and snapped photos of the process as we worked."


Blog 31 - Baking A Rye Pugliese With A Sourdough Starter
"This bread, that derives its name from the Italian town of Puglia, is not tradionally baked with Rye, but only half and half White Bread Flour and Whole Wheat Flour. I like the flavour and consistency that rye adds to the bread though, and add it for those reasons. I show you how to bake this delicious bread using a sourdough starter in today's blog. As always, I will give adivice for using alternative raising agents as well."


Blog 32 - Baking Ciabatta With A Sourdough Starter
"Who does not love good old Italian Ciabatta? I, for one, can not get enough of this bread with its big holes and slightly chewy texture. The Italian word 'ciabatta' literally means slipper and that is where the bread gets its shape from. I show you how to bake this delicatessen in today's blog, using your sourdough starter. I will also discuss the use of other raising agents in the text."


Blog 33 - Baking Wholewheat Buchy With A Sourdough Starter
"This popular breakfast bread originates from the regions of Poland and Germany. It is slightly sweet and makes for a wonderful meal with an early morning cup of coffee. Traditionally it is baked with White Bread Flour only, by I add a cup of wholewheat flour for taste. This way I loose none of the tender softness of the bread, but I gain loads in flavour. As always, I bake it with my sourdough starter as raising agent, but I'll give tips for using alternative raising agents in the text."


Blog 34 - Baking Kachakuri With Chakalaka Using A Sourdough Starter
"Kachakuri is a traditional Georgian bread parcel filled with cheese. However, down here in the South of Africa, we like our meals with a bit of zing and what better way to add it than to use good ole traditional Chakalaka? I show you how to give this ages old tradition an African twist in today's blog. As always, I use my Sourdough starter to give rise to the occasion."



Blog 35 - Baking A Sicilian Scroll With A Sourdough Starter
"The Sicilian Scroll is baked with 80% Semolina and only 20% White Bread Flour. Semolina is slow to digest and therefore you will feel full for longer. This is truly a natural Los GI bread! As Semolina is derived from Duram Wheat, you sacrifice nothing in taste. Use this same recipe in a traditional bread pan, and you will have a wonderfully tasty Low GI home-baked bread."


Blog 36 - Baking Mallorcan Ensaimadas With A Sourdough Starter
"Ensaimada is Spanish for cake made from sweet coiled pastry and it originates from Mallorca. I have shared a number of sweet bread recipes with you, but none is such a firm favourite with everyone as this is. It is a deliciously soft pastry that seems to melt in your mouth with a feint hint of caramel due to the use of sugar and butter. Irresistibly good!"




"I have shared a previous recipe for baking white bread using your sourdough starter. However, I have developed a much simpler recipe for this common household bread and share this with you in today's blog. As always, I will give advice for the use of alternative raising agents as well."



Blog 38 - Baking a Western Cape Loaf With A Sourdough Starter
"Today's loaf is a lovely White Bread Loaf that is good on its own. However, I add a twist to the loaf when I add some leftover goodies from my trip to the Western Cape to the dough. We all have things like these around the house, though they may differ from the ones I used. I'll walk you through some options when we get to it in the recipe."


Blog 39 - Baking Parker House Rolls With A Sourdough Starter
"Today's delicious buns has their origin in the famous Parker House Hotel of Boston. It is a rather ordinary white bread bun, but what makes it very intriguing is the fancy way in which it is folded over. We add a bit of a twist when I show you how to use your sourdough starter to give rise to these rolls."



Blog 40 - Baking a Quick Milk Bread Loaf Using A Sourdough Starter
"There are times when I have very little time to bake a loaf of bread and at those times it is necessary to know how to approach the art of bread baking in a way that allows for a much shorter time span. In today's blog I show you how to cheat time and still deliver brilliantly home-baked bread to your guests. I bake a Milk Bread Loaf in this blog and then adapt the same recipe in tomorrow's blog to bake a Wholewheat Loaf as well."


Blog 41 - Baking a Quick Wholewheat Loaf Using A Sourdough Starter
"In the previous blog I showed you how to 'cheat' at baking bread when you are pressed for time so you could deliver a delicious home-baked bread in half the time. I use the same recipe that I used to bake yesterday's Milk Bread Loaf, to bake today's Wholewheat Loaf, swapping out a couple of ingredients only."




"It is true that we don't always have time to bake a proper bread where we wait for the sourdough to develop, knock back the dough and start the waiting all over again. Life gets rushed and we need to find quicker ways of doing the things we like. This is why I have started sharing a couple of recipes with you for baking your own bread in a fraction of the time required for proper sourdough bread. In today's blog I share one of these quick recipes for baking a light rye loaf."



Blog 43 - Sourdough Women
"I have done a number of blogs on sourdough and using your own sourdough starter in your baking. Today's blog overlaps these previous blogs to a degree, but it has a completely different aim. I once again start off by showing you how to grow your own sourdough starter, but the intention of the blog is slightly more inspirational than practical. In my travels and dealings with people, I continue to cross paths with women who I refer to as sourdough women. These are women, who on a small scale, have a huge impact on their community. Just like a little bit of sourdough has the ability to leaven a whole batch of dough, these women have the ability to transform their own communities. This blog is a tribute to those women."


Blog 44 - Baking A Bread Loaf Using Baking Powder As Raising Agent
"The norm is certainly to bake bread with yeast or a sourdough starter as raising agent. Equally, the norm is to bake cake using baking soda or baking powder as raising agent. This has not always been the case. Before the arrival of baking powder and baking soda, yeast and sourdough starters were commonly used to give rise to cakes. Today we turn the tables on bread when we bake a loaf using baking powder as the raising agent. Quite delicious, I might tell you!"


Blog 45 - Baking A Georgian Beer Bread
"Today's bread is completely different from what we have become accustomed to. This time we do not use any yeast or sourdough to make the bread rise. We do not even bake the bread with a dough! Instead, we mix a batter with baking powder as its raising agent. This lovely light and very flavourful bread hails from Georgia and is traditionally baked with beer as the added liquid."


Blog 46 - Baking A Sourdough Double Cheese Pizza
"I have shared a couple of blogs about making homemade pizza using your sourdough starter. The truth is that we have become quite spoiled by this and find store-bought pizza lacking in taste. It is not so much the toppings, as it is the dough itself. Even the crusts get eaten! I share another of these great pizza recipes with you in today's blog. This time I use a double cheese topping to make it a little more special."


Blog 47 - Baking A Sourdough Garlic Loaf
"If you like the taste of pizza, then today's loaf is for you. It has all the flavours of Italy captured in one loaf. We use the traditional Italian spices, garlic and polenta  to make today's loaf. It goes without saying that we once again use our lovely sourdough starter to give rise to this treat."


Blog 48 - Baking A Wholewheat Soda Bread
"Soda Bread is a little known type of bread that uses no sourdough or yeast to rise. Instead, baking soda is added as raising agent. This is the ideal bread to bake when you have zero time to wait for yeast to react, as you simply mix the dough and pop the loaf in the oven, just as you would do with a cake. It will never be my favourite bread as it lacks somewhat in elasticity and flavour, but it certainly is very handy to know this recipe when you suddenly find yourself in a pinch and need to produce bread in next to no time."


Blog 49 - Baking A Pumpkin Bread With A Sourdough Starter In A Kettle Braai
"This blog covers two things we have not done with bread yet. We add a vegetable, namely pumpkin, to the dough. I'll share some more recipes for these delicious options in the future. What is even more extraordinary though, is that we then bake the loaf inside a Kettle Braai over the fire. I'll share the info for traditional oven baking as well, but it does open up new possibilities, doesn't it?"


Blog 50 - Baking A Moroccan Ksra With A Sourdough Starter In A Kettle Braai
"Ksra is a flat bread traditionally baked in Morocco. I have adapted the recipe ever so slightly to accommodate our lovely sourdough starter, although I am quite sure that there will be a traditional recipe out there that already makes use of a sourdough starter. Ksra is a wonderfully flavoured bread with a distinct aroma of aniseed. It is slightly chewy and is traditionally torn off and dipped into a stew made in a tajine. It goes just as well with cheese and tomato, or accompanying a soup. I baked my Ksra in a kettle braai over the fire, but I will give you directions for conventional oven baking as well."


Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
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Jy kan Kom Ons Kleur Tuinstories In hier koop.
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