Wednesday 24 March 2010

so was going to make an orange custard cake with cream cheese frosting. while getting my ingredients assembled i failed to find the custard powder. someone used it all and never told me. great. no custard powder, no cake.  the baked treat choice was put to a vote and tomorrow i will make cheesecake instead.
husband's dinner was meat and ricotta manicotti and stuffed focaccia. i am loving the focaccia. i had a slice with my veggie soup.
working on potty training my almost 3year old. i think i have managed to convince him dried apricots qualify as a special treat reward for using the potty. we do a combination of rewards. usually it's stars on the chart, get 10 stars get a new car. or you can trade your star for a instant snack treat. most of the time he goes for stars, today it's all treats. i don't have much in the kitchen for early morning special potty treats. thankfully he accepted the apricots and keeps peeing and asking for more.

focaccia bread
dough

  • 1 1/2 teaspoon dried yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
pre-heat oven to 430degreesF/ 220degreeC(i turned the oven on while i was rolling out the dough)

stuffing: whatever you feel like really. anything you eat on a pizza would be good
i cooked some fresh garlic, onions and peppers in a bit of olive oil. once soft i let them cool. i cut up some black olives and sundried tomatoes, added that to the onion/peppers. i had some ricotta in the fridge so that went in too.
in a small bowl mix the yeast, sugar and 1/8cup of warm water(from your 1/2cup, just pour a little out into the yeast to activate it.) set aside for 10min. yeast should be frothy and bubbling up/growing in size. if after 10min your yeast looks exactly like it did when you started, throw it away and try again, the yeast is dead and your bread will not turn out right. usually it's just because the water was too hot.
in a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, garlic powder, onion powder. add in the yeast mixture, olive oil and remaining water. mix together well. i used a kitchen fork, works just fine for mixing.
knead for 8-10min. the book says: on a floured surface. well i live in a small apartment, floured surfaces are hard to come by. i just kneaded the dough right in the bowl, no added flour. after kneading i lifted the dough up and brush some oil around the bowl and put the dough back in. i then covered it with a piece of oiled plastic wrap. put the covered dough in a warm place for 45min or until doubled in size.
45min the dough is puffed up, give it a good punch. take it out of the bowl, put it on a lightly floured surface(i use one of those flexi cutting matts, with some flour sprinkled on it.) and give it a quick knead. divide the dough into two equally sized balls.
roll out one of the balls till you have a 10inch disk. place that on a well oiled baking sheet. on top of the disk put down your stuffing. leave a border around the edge so you can seal your bread. i spread the ricotta and then just dumped the other stuff right on top. i sprinkled over some dried oregano and basil.
roll out your other dough ball to similar size, 10inches maybe a little larger if you have a thick filling that needs covering. lightly wet the border of the bottom disk with some water. cover with the top disk and press around the border. this should seal in your stuffing.
brush the top with olive oil. i sprinkled on some more dried basil and oregano and a bit of sea salt. that's optional though. bake in the oven 30min or until the top is golden brown.
you can see the with pictures entry here
go here for manicotti instructions, scroll down

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