Panissimo and Ethnic Bread: Turkish Pide / Panissimo e i pani etnici: la Pide turca

Panissimo‘s theme for the start of 2014 immediately grabbed my attention: Ethnic breads. I love the cuisine of distant cultures and countries, especially the ones of India and Middle East.

Spiced Baumkuchen, a layered cake for Daring Bakers / Torta albero speziata per i Daring Bakers

The January 2014 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Francijn of “Koken in de Brouwerij“. She challenged us all to bake layered cakes in the tradition of Baumkuchen (tree cake) and Schichttorte (layered cake).

I admit it, when reading Baumkuchen on this month’s Daring Bakers pdf’s document for just a slight moment I had the illusion we had to bake the Polish version (Secakz)
of this cake common in Northern Europe regions such as Germany, Austria, Hungary and funnily quite popular in Japan too. Scrolling down to read more, excited and quite scared, I won’t deny my relief discovering that Francijn choice’s had fallen on the German version of this sweet loaf.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Beetroot, Orange and White Chocolate Muffins / Il ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Muffin alla barbabietola, arancia e cioccolato bianco

Two weeks have passed since the first recipe especially conceived for Maroggia’s Mill flours. Weeks during which flour was consumed a lot, in my search for new recipes. Some have already appeared on the blog and others that are waiting in the “limbo” folder on my desktop.

My heart belongs to Genoa. Sourdoug Surprises: Focaccia with pickled artichokes, red cabbage and anchovies / Il cuore a Genova, una focaccia alla crema di carciofi, cavolo rosso e acciughe per l’amore della mia vita

Focaccia, Genoa’s most famous bread, is this month’s Sourdough Surprises theme. Genoa has adopted me for little less than a year back in 2006, and still is the city I consider my true home.

MTC Challenge: Italian Stew, how I Iove you! / MTC Challenge: Spezzatino o anche di un amore nato a fuoco lento

To every recipe an introduction. A story, a few anecdotes. When I first read this month’s MTC Challenge recipe I got shivers in my spine. No, not those sweet old memories shivers. Cold and scary ones. My mother being British we grew up eating sheperd’s pies, Lancashire hot pots, pork and I remember few occasional stews. But not spezzatino, the italian version of stew. No nonna recipes, no Sunday lunch tradition, nothing.

Smithy Loaf, or about Twelve Loaves and the pleasure of unfussy baking / Smithy Loaf, o anche di Twelve Loaves e il piacere di una semplice infornata

Keep it simple. This is this month’s Twelve Loaves theme, as beautifully explained by the talented Rossella in her blog Ma che ti sei mangiato?. Simplicity can freeze. Always in search of the elaborated techniques, which require time and effort but reward with breathtaking results and oh so many compliments we forget about the joy of a simple, quick bake. Yes baking can be rewarding with little efforts, using basic ingredients and techniques you can obtain delicious results within one hour sharp.

L’école de boulangerie de Panissimo: Epi with Wholewheat and AP flour / L’école de Boulangerie de Panissimo: Epi di farina integrale e farina 00

Like every month in Panissimo’s bread bakers group we have been asked to try out a new shape for our virtual baking school.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Merlot flavoured Ticinese Taralli with polenta breading / Il ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Taralli Ticinesi al Merlot con panatura di polenta

I already mentioned Maroggia’s Mill and the high quality of its Farina Nostrana flour in my post for my Autumn Flower’s recipe, a sweet brioche with pumpkin and chestnuts cream, and I expressed the good intention of making an extra effort in the selection of flours that I use for my experiments in the kitchen. Said and done.

An exotic Three King Cake Bread, new discoveries are all about forgotten ingredients / Una Corona dei Re Magi esotica, le nuove scoperte che nascono da ingredienti mancanti

Delinquent bread, don’t try this at home! An offence to bread baking but still tastes good. Excess sourdough wholewheat bread / Una pagnotta criminale o anche un affronto a tutte le regole della panificazione. Pane integrale agli esuberi brutto ma buono.

New year, new goals, new…news?
I’m still in a transitioning phase in which scheduling has to be done, ideas must not only be put on paper but need to get in action and unfortunately time is short. So short I’m posting a plain recipe, no anecdotes, no funny story…oh well maybe there’s something funny about this bread and a few things to say.