Cheese and Bacon Rolls

My children love cheese and bacon rolls, which can be bought at any bread shop around Sydney (and probably all over the place, although not much comes up if you do a search, so maybe not - can you get them or something similar where you live?).

They're a good snack while you're out and about, and they're also good for lunchboxes.

I've been planning to try and make them for ages, and recently my friend Carol gave me a cheese and bacon roll recipe that she uses to make them for her children.

First make some bread dough and leave it to rise. (See this bread recipe if you need it to get to this stage.)

Push out the air from the risen dough, then divide it into several pieces - I made 12. Roll them into oval shapes, put them on baking sheets and cover them.

Leave them for half an hour or so to puff up slightly. (Ideally put them all straight onto baking sheets so you don't have to disturb them again. I usually do, but on this occasion my second baking sheet was already in use!)

Brush the tops of the breads with beaten egg, then sprinkle over diced bacon...

...and grated cheese.

Cook at 200 C for around 15 minutes until the bread is golden.

Best eaten still warm from the oven, but also pretty good the next day.

They freeze well, so you can make them, freeze them, and put them still frozen into lunch boxes, where they should defrost in time for morning tea or lunch.

Easy Bread Rolls

These are so easy that every time I hear someone say they can't make bread, I feel like bringing them into my kitchen and showing them how to make these rolls.

They are just basic rolls that I often make for lunch time sandwiches or to go with a meal. Sometimes I give my children a blob of dough each and they make their own bread roll to go with their dinner.

Put bread flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl. I also add a couple of tablespoons of oat or wheat bran to add bulk to the rolls and make them slightly more filling, but you don't have to do this.

Stir up the dry ingredients, then add 300 ml warm water (it should feel comfortably warm to your fingers) and 3 tsp of olive oil.

Stir it around with a spoon until most of the flour has been moistened, then put your hand in and finish bringing the dough together. It may need a few more drops of water to get the last bit of flour, but add gradually so it doesn't become too sticky.

Knead the dough for a few minutes until it's smooth and springy. I do this in the bowl (I have a 3L bowl so there's quite a lot of room) but if it's easier, get it out and knead it on a work surface.

Leave it to stand - in the bowl with a plate or plastic wrap over the top - in a warmish place for one or two hours. (Usually one and a half hours is fine.)

I left this dough standing for 2 hours as I was a bit busy - it doesn't always puff up this much. Push the air out and remove the dough from the bowl.

Divide into portions, give each one a quick knead around in your hands, then form into whatever shape you like.

Dust with some flour, then leave in a warm place for about half an hour, while you warm up the oven to 200 C.

Cook for 15 minutes until the tops are slightly golden and the bottoms of the rolls sound hollow when knocked with your knuckles.

My children made a roll each with the above dough. I sometimes make a whole loaf (on the tray, not with a loaf tin) but more often I halve the dough and make two 'batard' style loaves (see below).

Ingredients:
500 g bread flour
2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
(2 tbsp oat bran or wheat bran if you like)
300 ml warm water
3 tsp olive oil

Two unglamorous (but very useful) long loaves - great for slicing and sharing out at dinner time.

Oaty Cranberry and Milo Cookies

I made these cookies for my children's lunchboxes - they are a variation of the Oaty Muesli Bars but with Milo to give it a slight chocolatey/malty taste, and some dried cranberries for some tangy sweetness.

(I imagine instead of the Milo, cocoa powder would work well too - although I would probably increase the amount of sugar to 100 g. I will try this variation next time.)

Cream together the soft butter and brown sugar, then add an egg.

Beat in the egg (add a tablespoon of the flour first as it makes the mixture smoother)...

...then fold in the rest of the flour, and then the Milo.

Stir in the cranberries...

...and then the oats, until the mixture is well combined.

Put on a baking sheet and heat the oven to 180 C. I made round cookies and some longer muesli bar shaped cookies which are good for school recess/morning tea.

Cook for 15 minutes. They will still be quite soft when they come out of the oven, but will firm up as they cool.

The cooked cookies! They keep their shape well because they are crammed full of oats.

Ingredients:
50 g butter, softened
80 g light brown sugar
1 egg
50 g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp Milo
175 g rolled oats
50 g dried cranberries

Refrigerator Naan

I often make naan for my children to take to school. Recently I've been making my naan dough the evening before and leaving it in the fridge overnight, and then I just cook it in the pan in the morning. Ta-dah! Fresh naan for the lunch boxes.

This is a small amount of dough that makes 6-8 little naans.

I've started using some wholemeal flour in my naan to make it a bit more substantial. Put flours, yeast, salt and a little sugar in a large bowl. In a jug mix together warm water, yogurt and oil.

My kitchen clock showing the time I was making the dough - nearly 11 pm. Yes I suppose I am a bit mad.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry with a spoon, then when it's looking shaggy start mixing by hand. It helps if you rub a little oil onto your hands to stop it sticking too much.

Bring it all together into a ball, adding a couple more drops of water if necessary, and knead for a few minutes (I do this in the bowl).

Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, get the dough out and remove it from the bowl.

Break it into the number of pieces you need, roll each piece into a ball, then roll them flat with an oiled rolling pin.

Heat a heavy-based pan to a medium heat and then lay some of the dough ovals in (don't add any oil to the pan).

Cook for a few minutes until golden underneath, then turn over. Turn the heat down if they are browning too quickly, or they will burn before they are cooked through.

Cook the other side for a few minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

Ingredients:
150 g plain white flour or bread flour
100 g wholemeal flour
1 level tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/2 tsp sugar
150 ml warm water
1 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tsp vegetable oil (I use olive oil)

My original naan recipe is here

Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins (again!)

This time I used brown sugar instead of white sugar in this recipe and they are pretty good! Lovely crunchy top and fluffy interior.

So if you've got some blueberries and buttermilk hanging around, these (here and here) are good muffin recipes, and this blueberry buttermilk cake is worth making too.

Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins (another version)

This is a slightly different version of blueberry and buttermilk muffins. The other ones I made contained demarara sugar and butter, while these have white sugar and oil.

Put flour and sugar in a bowl, and in a large jug put oil, buttermilk, egg and vanilla.

Add the buttermilk mixture and blueberries to the flour and sugar, and stir until combined.

Because of the white sugar, the mixture is very pale - I normally use brown or demarara sugar, so I was surprised at how white it was.

Spoon into muffin trays and cook at 200 C for around 20 minutes. My little muffins took 15 mins.
The cooked muffins have a golden, crispy top and are very light and fluffy inside. I'm used to the more solid, substantial and sticky muffins, so to me these are a bit like the 'white bread' version - not as tasty - more like a light cupcake.

But very popular with everyone else, and they come out of the muffin papers very cleanly with no residue, which is unusual for a muffin!

Ingredients:
2½ cups (375g) self-raising flour
¾ cup (165g) caster sugar
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup (160ml) vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
¾ cup (180ml) buttermilk
100 g blueberries

Based on this recipe.

Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins

I love muffins made with buttermilk - it seems to give them a slightly sour tang (as in cheesecake rather than off milk!) which goes especially well with blueberries.

The recipe started as a loaf, but now I use it for muffins instead, as it's more practical for school lunches.

Put flour, baking powder, bicarb, nutmeg and sugar in a large bowl. In a jug put egg, buttermilk and have melted butter ready.

(I don't put the butter in with the other wet ingredients to keep it warm and fully melted.)

Add buttermilk/egg and melted butter to the flour mixture, and stir in gently. When almost combined, add blueberries and continue to stir until everything is just combined.

Spoon into muffin pans and cook at 190 C for 15-20 minutes (my smaller ones took 15 mins, and the bigger ones took 20 mins).

I had about 4 tablespoons of mixture left over and didn't have room for another muffin pan in the oven, so I oiled my mini quiche dish and made a little muffin cake instead. I sprinkled some extra demarara on the top and we shared a mini cake for dessert.


Ingredients:
2 cups (300 g ) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb of soda
small grating of nutmeg
1 cup (220 g) demarara sugar
1 punnet (175 g) blueberries
1 egg, lightly beaten
60 g butter, melted
1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk