Muesli Bread

Another weekend goes by where I’ve not baked. Ok, that’s not quite true. Last weekend I did make a batch of muffins, but hardly anything to shout from the rooftops.

Muesli Bread minus the slashes (I forgot)

So far no baking this weekend either, and I can’t imagine there will be.  It’s close to dinner time and tomorrow I’m out at Lindy’s taking a handpainting class with Amber from Wildberry Cakes. That’s handpainting on fondant. So while I’m not making a cake to practice some new technique, I will be doing something within the “cake decorating” realm. I hope I don’t suck at it completely. It’s been some years since I did anything remotely artistic with drawing. And even then (despite having won a prize) it was as a child and I can’t imagine it was really very good.

Anyhow, I do have a recipe to share, something I made a couple of weekends ago, something that I’d spied several months ago and was itching to make if I could convince Mr Fussy it would be alright, and he wouldn’t die from trying.

I did convince Mr Fussy, but had to concede a few ingredients to make it palatable for him. I upped the amount of dried fruit and skipped the almonds. Instead I added some apricots (the start with A, so it’s a fair replacement – right?) and more fruit, up to one cup max.

Dumping in all the seeds/nuts and dried fruits

Although the recipe didn’t say you could leave the dough overnight in the fridge, that’s just what I did. I went to the original source of the recipe and King Arthur Flour where it was explained you can leave the dough in the fridge for many days before using.

Talk about another easy yeast bread to make. I added everything together in the same bowl. Once it was mixed I did a few stretch and folds of the dough before covering the bowl with Gladwrap, leaving it in the fridge until I was ready the next day.

About 3 stretch and folds. It’s sticky so you’ll need to oil the bench.

I made a few mistakes in preparing it for baking. I didn’t have it out as long it should have been to rest and I forgot to cut the slashes into the top.

I used half of the dough for our lunch and the remaining half the following day for lunch. Yes, both times I forgot the slashes.

Cover and leave to rise slowly overnight in the fridge

The bread was really lovely. Despite not having any spices in it, it had a surprising spicy flavour to it. It reminded me of hot cross buns. It was a bit baffling I have to confess, since I new there were no spices in the ingredients. I can only put it down to using the Jumbo Raisins (I’ve found them at Pak ‘n Save and New World supermarkets). There seems to be 3 varieties in the raisins and eating them raw, each has a unique flavour.

Try to let the bread rest 15 minutes after removing from the oven. It’s hard to resist but do your best.

My MIL really liked the bread and Mr Fussy also didn’t mind it. I think I might even get away with making it again!

We ate it all! Each slice loaded with butter – of course.

Five star fruitcake

Have you heard of Alton Brown? He’s a bit of a legend in the kitchen, and if the review rating for his Free Range Fruitcake is anything to go by, then the legendary status is well earned.

Any recipe with 5 stars from 200+ reviews shouts a recipe worth trying. The recipe says the flavours mature over a 2 week period. I don’t have 2 weeks to wait so I can tell you right now that if the flavours get even better, then this cake will knock your socks off. If you can resist the temptation not to sneak a slice that is.

This fruitcake is not like the type of fruitcakes that we’re more used to. I guess I’m used to a fruitcake that probably originated from our English forefathers. And I’ve come to the conclusion that the Americans must have some really filthy fruitcake recipes for this recipe to turn fruit cake haters into fruit cake lovers. As I say, this is a very tasty cake, but I don’t think our English originated fruitcake is nasty, I wouldn’t be making it year after year, even if I keep trying different recipes.

I almost didn’t make the cake. I needed currents, a dried fruit I thought I had left over from making the Christmas cakes in October, but I was wrong.  I’d already bought prunes to replace the dried cherries and I assumed the recipe called for sultanas, but it didn’t! So I swapped out the currents for sultanas and I was good to go. And then I read about macerating the fruit overnight. I would usually do this, but I didn’t have time. I wanted to make the recipe today. Thankfully there were instructions to instead microwave the dried fruit and rum. I would never have thought to do that. What a great “cheat” of time. And it worked beautifully.

I gave the fruit a stir after 2 minutes. The fumes from the hot fruit almost caused my eyes to water. I don’t drink so I’m not used to alcohol as a drink but I certainly didn’t expect it to have such an overpowering smell that it would cause me to have to turn away from the bowl until I got my vision back. The smell was divine.

Then onto putting the butter, spices and apple juice with the fruit and boiling it. The smell just intensified. Did I say divine already?

The recipe says to leave the fruit for 15 minutes before mixing in the dry ingredients then the eggs. Instead I left it for probably closer to hours and even then the bottom of the bowl was still holding a little heat.

The mixture is meant to be for a loaf tin but I had read others say they made mini loaves and muffins with the recipe. Since we’ve got Christmas cake I had planned to make muffins from the batter which would give Mr Fussy cake all week long (though he tells me he has plenty to keep him going and more treats are not necessary – after I’d started the recipe that is).

I used my cupcake scoop (like an ice cream scoop) and used 1 and 1/3 scoops for the paper (yes, they were paper, not greased at all, much to my disappointment) liners and still had enough batter left over for 5 mini loaves, which also used the same amount of batter. I have since measured out the scoop and 1/3 and it’s just a bit over 50ml, just a bit under ¼ cup.

Not only did I not have 2 weeks to wait, I had to sample one of the loaves tonight. I can’t post about a recipe and not say “I’m sure it will be nice”. I also wanted to be able to describe or show the texture of the cake. It’s a very soft cake, and it’s definitely more a cake-cake, not like a traditional fruit cake which is dense and has very little batter by comparison to the fruit. Though there’s plenty of fruit in this recipe. Mr Fussy gives it the big thumbs up also, though he would only have one mouthful since we’d already had a slice of Austrian Shortbread (recipe/post to come) and he didn’t feel like he needed anything more. I do wish I could politely turn away sweet fruit. I’m afraid it’s restraint I don’t have. The other reason that I felt it was necessary to sample tonight is that tomorrow I’m going to try and say NO to anything during the week. Ok, I do have a slice of the Christmas cake I’m taking to work to partake in, but that’s it. I hope 😉

Anyway, I can give it on good authority that these mini fruitcake loaves are worth making if you’re after a more light/soft cake-y type fruitcake.

These are the changes I made:

• Swapped currents for sultanas
• Swapped dried cherries for prunes
• None of my fruit was sun-ripened, or golden
• I used Coruba Rum
• 1/8^th teaspoon of Allspice
• 1/8^th teaspoon of ground cloves
• Charlie’s apple juice (I don’t think we have unfiltered here, at least not in the supermarket)
• 223gm flour (I like to weigh rather than use cup measurements)
• Salted butter and omitted the salt as a separate ingredient

Now all I have to do is wrestle with those awful non-greased baking papers. Things could get messy.

Ohh, I’ve got an update already. I was putting the cakes away and saw one of the papers had a small tear in it (I probably picked at it when deciding if I was doomed) so I decided to continue to tear. And the paper came off without grabbing at the cake. I had to keep tearing strips from top down but it still came off without the agony I was expecting. Hoorah!

Oh, and I finished Santa. I did give him new legs, which I’m also not happy with. Now he has shiny boots, a  new hand (he fell off and the candy cane broke I tried to scrape the bit left behind inside his hand and his hand fell off!) and new (better) candy cane and a metallic buckle and I added some sparkle “snowflake” dust to his beard and some other white bits to his santa suit. Now what to do with him??

Yvonne’s Toasted Muesli

I’m not sure where Yvonne found this recipe. I’m not sure if I asked, was told, or have never known. Whatever has happened with the passage of time, I do not know where this recipe originates, other than with Yvonne. So I apologise for not giving credit where credit is due.

Yvonne was my Matron of Honour. We met while working at, what was then, TrustBank Card Services. So that’s going back a few years. Time has marched on and Westpac “merged” with TrustBank. But our friendship has remained unchanged. I love Yvonne to bits and the fact she’s now living in Holland doesn’t mean she’s out of sight, out of mind.

This is a simple recipe, or at least I think it is. I’ve been making it since the very next day after Yvonne told me the recipe. I’ve been making it for years (and years).

Ingredients:

• 1.5kg Wholegrain Rolled Oats (don’t use anything else, you’ll thank me for this insistence)
• 1 cup Shredded Coconut
• 1 cup Walnuts, chopped roughly
• 1 cup Slivered Almonds
• 1 cup Pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup Sunflower seeds
• 1 cup Sesame seeds (I call this optional, I’ve stopped adding these)
• 1 cup Cold pressed Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup liquid Honey
• 1/4 cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
• * For all those dried ingredients that say 1 cup, other than Shredded Coconut which you buy in a much larger package, I usually use 2x 70gm packs, if you’re not buying the nuts/seeds in bulk. It’s only the walnuts you’ll need 2+ 70gm packs.

Instructions:

• Heat the oven to 150deg Celsius
• In a small pot, heat together the oil, honey and brown sugar so it’s melted, but not boiling
• Mix into a very large roasting pan all other ingredients
• Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients
• Carefully mix the dry and wet ingredients so that all of the rolled oats are coated, and the liquid hasn’t pooled in any one place. I sort of use a bit of a folding action to insure it’s all fully incorporated.
• Place the roasting pan into the oven and leave it for 15-20 minutes. When the timer beeps take the pan out of the oven and mix it all up to prevent uneven toasting of the muesli.
• Put the roasting pan back in for another 15-20 minutes.
• Mix up the muesli and return to the oven once more, for a further 15-20 minutes.
• Depending on how toasted you like you muesli, the total cooking time will be between 45-60 minutes.
• Once you’ve finished toasting the muesli remove the roasting pan from the oven and leave on the bench to cool.
• You’ll need to pop back and stir the muesli at regular intervals while it cools. This will prevent it from clumping.  I’ve found that if it does form any clumps they “crush” up easily enough by patting the clump with the back of a spoon.
• Once the muesli has cooled completely add in your preferred dried fruits, in whatever quantities you like.

Dried fruit

I use:

Diced Apricots

Cranberries

Raisins

Sultanas

Currents (if I have them)

 

You can also add in things like crystallised strawberries, any type of dried fruit and banana chips.

The world is your oyster.

 

I love walnuts. You can toast them before chopping them up if you like. Just pop them into the oven for about 8-10 minutes. The flavour will enhance.

Every time I make the Muesli I’m thinking of Yvonne. I wish she weren’t so far away. However it’s only weeks now until she’s back in Christchurch. We’ll have a wonderful time catching up over Christmas and New Year before she’s whisked back to Holland.

I simply can not make muesli without having some of it ending up on the floor. I know that when I make muesli there’s a compulsory floor sweep on the agenda.