Brioche Pudding with Dried Figs
This was meant to just have cherries in it but I forgot to get them that day so I rummaged around the the cupboard and cheated a little with a packet of Whisk & Pin dried fruit compote that was mostly figs which I love so hey, figs it was! They worked really well if I do say so myself.
Brioche Pudding with Dried
Figs
Roti Bread
I’ve frozen all of mine, save the one or two I taste-tested. They’ll defrost quickly next time I whip up some indian.
Roti Bread - Makes 12
250mL of warm water
1 sachet of dry yeast
2 teaspoons of sugar
3 cups of flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
1½ tablespoons of oil
Mix two tablespoons of the water with the sugar and yeast and leave
to get all frothy, about 10 minutes.
Knead the rest of the ingredients together well and let rise for an
hour or until doubled in size. Cut into 12 pieces and roll into
rounds.
Heat a non-stick frying pan to hot then spread with a little oil
and fry one of the rounds of bread. It will start to bubble, press
them down with a dry, folded tea towel and flip over and fry on the
other side until golden. Repeat for the remaining bread. Best
served hot.
Homemade Turkish Bread
The texture is beautifully chewy and has a well developed flavour too. Unfortunately it didn’t have those extra large air-bubbles inside you’d get from your store-bought turkish bread but I think if you left it long than I did you’d be fine, it was also a little cold when I baked mine and that never helps.
Homemade Turkish Bread
Homemade Turkish Bread - Makes 6
Sponge:
½ cup of warm water
1 sachet of yeast
1 teaspoon of sugar or honey
1 cup of flour
Dough:
1¼ cup of warm water
1 sachet of yeast
1 teaspoon of sugar or honey
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cups of flour
1 cup of whole-grain flour (I used rye)
1 tablespoon of salt
Sesame seeds or nigella seeds (black onion) for garnish
1 egg, beaten for a glaze
Mix the sponge ingredients, except the flour together and set aside
until foamy, about 15 minutes. Add the flour and combine well.
Cover with a tea-towel or loosely with plastic wrap and set aside
overnight. Don’t cover the sponge tightly because the air inside
with become anoxic and the yeast will die.
The following day, mix the second lot of yeast, water and
honey/sugar together until foamy then add the remaining ingredients
except the sesame seeds or nigella seeds and egg then knead until
the dough is smooth and very elastic. Add more flour if the dough
is too wet. It should be slightly damn but silky smooth. Mine took
20+ minutes.
Pre-heat your oven to 250ºC. Once the dough is the right
consistency, ball up and place in an oiled bowl covered with a
tea-towel or loosely with plastic wrap for 3+ hours or until the
dough has doubled in size. Punch down the dough then kneed again
for another 10 minutes or so. Divide into six pieces and roll out
to the desired shape, quite thinly and put on a greased baking try
and put in a warm place for an hour or more until the dough has
risen significantly. Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle over the
sesame or nigella seeds.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the crush is golden.
No salmon for you! @ Varga Bar
I ended up with a sandwich. Luckily it was tasty but given it was a bacon sandwich ($10), a little light on the bacon.
Bacon, Avocado, Tomato and Lettuce on
Sourdough @ Varga Bar
The Daily Grind @ The Peppermill Cafe
Peppermill Café, Milsons
Point
At a recent contract I went out myself and failed miserably picking
the Kirribilli Village Café and Restaurant. I tried their steak
sandwich and it was just awful, chewy, tasteless and very
overpriced. $25 off for the sandwich and a coffee. That’s when I
asked. The team I was working with and I went around the corner to
The Peppermill Café in Milsons
Point, their coffee is a little to be desired considering it’s
Campos Coffee, but it
almost always seemed burnt but the service and food was always
pretty good.
The first day I went I was recommended their regular special, a
chicken and leek pie. Not what I expected in the presentation
department but it was tasty. An individual baking dish with mashed
potato on the bottom, a regular chicken and leek filling and a
square of golden puff pastry balanced across the top. Almost every
day since then I went to Peppermill for either lunch or breakfast,
often for both. When I had breakfast, brunch, or afternoon tea, I’d
pick up a smoked salmon, ricotta and avocado croissant, the
combination of the soft buttery pastry and the oily smokiness of
the salmon was a winner.
Smoked Salmon Croissant @ Peppermill
Café, Milsons Point
They serve an all day breakfast here,
and the majority of the menu was based around breakfast but almost
as often as I’d see someone have a burger I saw someone else have
either the pancakes or french toast, both served with either bacon
and maple syrup or a mixed berry compote. Delicious stuff and well
worth a try if you want a bit of extra energy before hitting either
the Kirribilli or North Sydney Markets one weekend (I worked
weekends too). The beef burger is nice, standard fare, but the
chicken burger was the winner, chicken, bacon, avocado. Damn
tasty.
It’s also licensed and they won’t pass judgement if you have a
Bloody Mary on a Monday!
Chicken & Bacon Burger @
Peppermill Café, Milsons Point
The Peppermill Café
30 Glenn Street, Milsons Point (map)
Monday to Friday 7am to 6pm
Saturday and Sunday 8am - 4pm
T: (02) 9954 1444
F: (02) 9954 1444
www.thepeppermillcafe.com.au
For once, I had a healthy breakfast
The texture of this was pretty interesting with the soft succulant fruit and sticky honey and the chewy turkish bread and it’s carbonised toasted edges it made of a quite satisfying meal. It just goes to show that simple fresh fruit is really worth while.
Turkish toast with banana and
strawberries, honey and mint