Panissimo February: Ticinese bread / Panissimo Febbraio: Pane alla ticinese

Panissimo’s theme for this month was regional breads. As soon as I read Sandra’s post I knew I would be baking pane alla ticinese, one my favourite breads as a kid. Funnily enough my first article for Azione was about this special kind of bread, a thing which brought back to mind many colourful memories about my childhood and the afternoon snack I used to eat with my friends: bread and chocolate.

Daring Bakers: White Chocolate and Pistachio Flower Brioche / Daring Bakers: Fiore di brioche al cioccolato bianco e pistacchio

Beauty surrounded the Daring Bakers this month as our host, Sawsan, of chef in disguise,
challenged us to make beautiful, filled breads. Who knew breads could look as great as they taste?

This month Daring Bakers is hosted by one very good blogger I’ve been following since the early days of my blog, Sawsan of Chef in disguise. Her choice fell on a recipe and shape I know quite well, a recipe that brought a good share of luck to my life landing me to Azione with whom I collaborate every now and then and to an interesting collaboration with Maroggia’s Mill: the Brioche Flower.

MTC Challenge February: Savoury strudel with Butternut squash, creamed Cassava, Bacon and Walnuts with Roquefort cheese Béchamel / MTC Challenge Febbraio: Strudel salato alla zucca butternut, crema di manioca, pancetta e noci con besciamella al Roquefort

MTC Challenge this month is being held at the home of Mari, aka Lasagna Pazza, who has challenged us with strudel. Now I will bother you once more by saying how much I love these challenges, every month living the anxiety and joy of a new culinary discoveries (a proper strudel made with homemade dough, not a plastic store bought version), breaking my head against the wall thinking about flavour pairing and seeking the right ingredients. Improving my skills. And I can not but be grateful.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Maroggia’s Miller Ciabattas / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Le ciabatte del Mugnaio

Here we go, another “other friday”, another recipe from Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook. This time it’s not a recipe I made up but one that was given to me by the miller itself. Alessandro Fontana in fact is not the miller but headchief of production at the Mill, but I’m sure he won’t mind being “labeled” the miller, it has a romantic and vintage allure to it, don’t you think?

Sourdough Surprises: Monkey Bread drove us bananas! / Sourdough Suprises: Monkey bread, il pane delle scimmie che ci ha fatto perdere la testa

It’s the 20th and Sourdough Surprises is back. As always I am delighted to discover a new bread kind, and what bread! I must admit this has been a great hit among my new official recipe testers: Flavia (go and take a look at her work here, she’s an amazing photographer and graphic designer) and her studio buddies Daniela, Micha and Alessandro not to mention Antonio, Flavia’s boyfriend, who devoured 3 and a half out of 4 monkey bread balls she had taken home. I must admit I was quite skeptic, not being a huge fan of overly sweet things, and was a bit scared only looking at the shape and fierce fatness of this very special bread.

Celeriac, White Chocolate, Cardamom and Fleur de Sel Caramel tartellettes / Tartellettes al sedano rapa, cardamomo e caramello al fleur del sel

I have been toying with this idea for a long time now. The inspiration came both from Kate’s beautiful blog, Veggie Desserts, and a mock bechamel sauce I made a few years ago with the use of celeriac to avoid fatness and heaviness given by butter and milk while using the natural sweetness and creaminess of this plant. Creaminess, sweetness, white, white chocolate, cardamom.

A late Christmas treat, Gingersnap biscuits by The Garum Factory / Un dolcetto molto natalizio…po’ in ritardo! Biscotti allo zenzero e spezie di The Garum Factory

Last Christmas I was full of good intentions. Many challenges were thrown around the web, themed especially for the festive season and in all good faith were pinned down on my calendar, looking forward to participate. Not only I forgot to bake a bread for Twelve loaves but didn’t participate to a single contest. Blame it on the panettone obsession, on the new part time job, and well…on the festive season! The only recipe that was completed, foreseeing many happy festive baking moments was candied ginger.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Aniseed, White Chocolate and Lime Zest Grissini / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Grissini all’anice, cioccolato bianco e scorza di lime

It’s already the third appointment with the Mill’s Cookbook, time does fly quick doesn’t it? This recipe is one that has been lying around for a long time, just as an idea, on my recipe notebook. No better chance to put it to practice and see whether the flavour combination would work or not, and hell it works!

Chocolate, Orange and Hazelnut Vegan Tart for Nevia, but not for Mimi / Crostata vegana al cioccolato, arancia e nocciole per Nevia ma non per Mimi

Veganism. A choice, a rigid lifestyle and to me, I must admit, a bit of a problem when it’s up to baking and desserts. Until a few months ago I never had to wonder about cooking or baking vegan, but then met Mimi and Nevia.