I had a busy afternoon stocking up on breakfast bits and pieces. I made a sourdough loaf, some rhubarb and orange compote and a batch of our own-recipe granola. It's so straightforward to make I have no idea why people eat the shop-bought stuff (which can be so sugary with nasty dried fruit); the other great thing is that you can pretty much choose what you put in it. Here's our standard recipe - but we often make changes depending on what we have in. Another great recipe is Andy's Fairfield Granola from Nigella Lawson's Feast - very delicious, but a bit more luxurious than ours.
House Granola
400g rolled oats
50g pumpkin seeds
50g sunflower seeds
30g sesame seeds
150g whole unblanched almonds
75g Freedom Syrup (or any other syrup - rice or maple maybe)
150ml water
150ml cold pressed rape seed oil (or mild oil of your choice)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
freshly grated nutmeg (around 1/2 tsp)
250g raisins
Preheat your oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5. Mix all the ingredients, apart from the raisins, in a large bowl. Spread the mixture thinly into 2 large shallow baking or roasting tins. Bake for around 25-30 mins until golden brown, turning everything over after about 15 minutes to make sure everything gets nicely crunchy. Try not to handle the granola too roughly - otherwise it will become a bit crumby. When it's done, take it out of the oven and leave to cool on the trays. Divide the raisins between the 2 trays and stir them in. Transfer your granola to a airtight container - the quantities given above exactly fill a 2 litre clip top Le Parfait jar.
I can't tell you exactly how long this keeps for - we've never managed to keep a jar for longer than a week, but it still tastes nice and fresh then, so I'd imagine that it would keep for a couple of weeks. It is delicious served with plain old milk, or with yogurt and fruit compote or sliced banana. I don't need to tell you how nutritious the ingredients are - it's also really filling too. I hope you give it a try and enjoy it as much as we do.
I have a passion for those delicious German cakes that consist of a base of rich bread dough, a lovely layer of fruit, and a sweet crunchy buttery topping. I've made some delicious versions over the years - Nigella Lawson has a really good Apple and Blackberry Kuchen in Nigella Bites, for instance - but I'm so into making naturally leavened bread these days that I really wanted to create something with a sourdough base. I was also curious to see if it was possible to make an enriched sourdough, using egg and milk in the dough. I think it works very well - but here's my recipe - have a go and tell me what you think.
Ingredients
(these are the totals - check the recipe to see how much you need to use at each stage)
100g wheat sourdough starter (mine is made according to the instructions in Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley)
100g plain wholemeal flour
200g strong white flour
1egg
80g milk
3g salt
250g rhubarb
100g plain flour
75g butter
100g granulated sugar
Stage 1
First you need to wake up your sourdough starter. Put 100g of starter in a bowl and add 50g of strong white flour and 50g of plain wholemeal flour and 60g of lukewarm water. Cover and leave in a warm place for 3-4 hours.
Stage 2
Mix together 150g strong white flour, 50g wholemeal flour, 3g salt, 1 egg and 80g milk and knead until you have nice soft dough (7-8 minutes, or quicker in a mixer with a dough hook). Then add all the leaven from the first stage and knead together until soft and elastic. If the dough is very sticky after a couple of minutes kneading then add an extra spoonful of flour. Now cover the bowl and leave the dough to rest and relax for an hour.
Stage 3
Whilst your dough is resting prepare your toppings. Wash and slice 250g of rhubarb thinly (0.5cm slices) on the diagonal, then put aside. In a small bowl rub together 100g plain white flour (or wholemeal if you prefer) and 75g butter until you have a lovely lumpy crumble-type mixure. Stir in a generous 100g of sugar - granulated is fine here and gives a nice crunchy texture. You do need quite a bit of sugar to counteract the sourness of the rhubarb - if you are using a sweeter fruit (dessert plums would be delicious for instance) then use less sugar. Line a large baking tin or tray with baking parchment. I use a roasting tin that measures 30x25cm that works really well - I push the dough right up to the edges.
Stage 4
Chuck your dough onto your prepared tray and press it out so you have a rectangular shape that measures around 30x25cm - it really helps to wet your hands first! Cover the surface with rhubarb and then sprinkle your crumbly topping over the top. Put the tray into a large carrier bag (making sure the bag is nowhere near your kuchen or you will have a very sticky incident) and leave for about 2 hours to rise and become puffy. About 90 minutes into the rising time pre-heat your oven to gas mark 5/190C.
Stage 5
Bake for around 40 minutes until the bread base is cooked through and the crumble topping is golden brown.
Leave to cool and then slice into squares & store in an airtight tin. This is delicious for breakfast and keeps well for 2 or 3 days.
