An Easter treat: Colomba / È quasi Pasqua! Colomba Giorilli dei Fables de Sucre

It’s almost April, the time to test your baking skills with difficult doughs, the time for Colomba! I tried this recipe last year and I am very sad not to be able to replicate it this year too, due to a lack of time. This Colomba, the original recipe is by Giorilli and this it the re viewed by Fables de Sucre, is simply perfect. A fragrant cloud with a compact, soft, buttery and well developed dough. Scent of vanilla and citrus, perfectly balanced, blend very nicely with the buttery texture. My guinea pigs loved it! As with all very rich doughs, such as panettone, there are some basic rules.

MTC Challenge: Celeriac, Turmeric, Apple and Onion mini pies with dill brisée pastry/ MTC Challenge: Tortine al sedano rapa, curcuma, mela e cipolla con brisée all’aneto

For this month’s MTC Challenge Elisa challenges us with a basic cooking preparation, brisée pastry. At first I thought I could not participate because the guideline called for the use of Michel Roux’s recipe. Fortunately, after writing to MTC’s staff I was reassured that in cases of allergies and health problems we were allowed to use other ingredients to substitute the ones indicated in the given recipe, so I decided to try out my first vegan brisée.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Multigrain ciabatta / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Ciabatte del mulino alla farina 4 cereali

It’s Maroggia’s Mill Cookbok Friday again! It has been a while now since I last posted a recipe for ciabatta. This time I chose Maroggia’s Mill multi grain floru, which I used for these Multigrain Flour, Sesame Seeds and Polenta Taragna Grissini. The result is very good, a nicely developed dough, with a good ratio of holes and a super crunchy crust. The flavour is richer than white flour ciabatta and the texture slighlty rustic, but without the stodginess so common in whole flour breads. The long fermentation helps develop carbon dioxide and gluten, so the bread can rise properly during proffing and baking, and develops a richer flavour of the dough while at the same time making the bread more digestible. But let’s move on to the recipe!

Of favourite dishes and comfort food: Pasta ccu li brocculi / Piatto del cuore e comfort food: Pasta ccu li brocculi

Forgotten in a dusty folder in the darkest recesses of my “limbo” folder, yet another recipe part of the project that never came to light of which I wrote about in my previous post. A saviouor to me, being this one a tough moment where I am finding it very hard to have control on both blogs, switching from macro to bread and non-macro recipes, feeling a bit drained and uninspired. This dish became a staple at my parents place in the past few years, and my father cooks it divinely. I worked on the basic recipe from the book Le migliori ricette della cucina regionale Italiana which I used as an inspiration for my sweet rice cakes, too. Sicilian traditional food never disappoints. A light salty note is given by sardines, counterbalanced by a slightly sweet touch confered by raisins and fennel seeds. The texture of blanched cauliflower and pine nuts add an irresistible crunchy touch to a dish which I never get bored with. Savour it bite after bite, chew religiously. The aromas and textures will blend, caressing your taste buds and you will inevitably fall in love. Simple ingredients, minimum time of preparation, the ultimare comfort food…you couldn’t ask for more!

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Toasted Wheat Flour and Black Sesame Naan / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Naan alla farina di grano tostata e semi di sesamo neri

Long time no see, flat bread! Thinking of new recipes for the blog I realised that flat bread has been missing for a while (just a quick reminder of what has been posted so far: piadina, reinterpreted in a menu, Turkish pide, a classic white naan, persian lavash and msemmen) and that Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook doesn’t even feature this type of bread. Bad, very bad of me indeed. So I am back to using the wonderful toasted flour of which I wrote about in this post for my rye, toasted flour and thyme crackers. A flour that can be done at home by simply toasting plain flour in a pan, which gives breads, crackers and breadsticks a very particular taste.