Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Easter Weekend Baking

This weekend was dedicated to bread, with 2 loaves of Pane Toscana, homemade pizza and hot cross buns all being made over the 4 day break.

Thursday evening the first part to making the dough for the Pane Toscana and the pizza base dough were made to allow them to rise overnight

Pane Toscana is a traditional Tuscan bread and is as simple as bread can be: it's just yeast, water and flour mixed together, kneaded, shaped and baked. Salt is the missing element here. Because Tuscans often eat their bread with very spicy main dishes, or top it with salty, strong-flavored meats or cheeses, it is very bland tasting by itself. Unless you're on a salt-free diet or are used to saltless food, this bread probably won't taste very appealing to you. But pair it with a salty prosciutto or a strong Parmesan cheese and you'll see why Tuscans have baked and loved their saltless bread for many centuries.

 






In our house hold pizza is a dish that can be eaten any day for any course (yes I love cold pizza for breakfast) and we don't mean Pizza Hut or Dominos as that to us is not real Italian Pizza. When possible we will make our own homemade pizza, preferably to cook in our pizza oven in the garden but when time is not on our side a quick cook in the oven will do.





 
Finally this weekend... Paul Hollywoods hot cross buns.
Yes these can be time consuming but if you can be bothered to put the elbow grease and time into them you won't be disappointed. We couldn't help but cut one open as soon as they were finished, spreading a generous amount of butter on them and tucking in.
Delicious, the taste to us, 100% better than shop bought.
Here's the link to try the yourselves http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2066661/hot-cross-buns