Oh all these excesses! Bread Thins against Sourdough waste / Oh tutti questi eccessi! Sfogliate di pane per combattere lo spreco di pasta madre

Pubblicato il 29 agosto 2014 da rise of the sourdough preacher

A mess, such a total mess I collected not 150 grams, not 300 grams but one kilo excess sourdough. These things happen when scheduling gets out of control, chaos grows and my excess sourdough jar fills up to the brim. What to do? Luckily bread thins are always there to save the day (and are quite appreciated by my guinea pigs). If you are like me, a waste hater that gets lost into too many projects this is the recipe for you. It does take some time but it has an addictive quality to it, once you start rolling out the dough you soon get into a state of trance. Try it for yourself, you won’t be disappointed by these super crisp crackers, far the best I have ever tasted and baked in my own house. You can flavor them as you please, in fact I did three different flavoring a for these batches. Are you ready to roll the bread thins? Continue reading / Continua a leggere…

Dried wild fennel leaves, Lemon and Pepper crackers / Sfogliate di pane al finocchietto, limone e pepe

Pubblicato il 4 novembre 2013 da rise of the sourdough preacher

Lately baking disasters have been the norm, the uneasy feeling of not doing it right, of not being focused. Yet another batch of grissinis gets burnt, the ciabatte do not rise as expected and every single recipe and experiments turns into drama. Not good. To get back on the track and to push myself I turn to the easiest solution to soothe the wounds to my confidence: online challenges and contests. When improvising too much I often lose concentration, having to participate to contests is another thing…there are deadlines and a recipe can turn out bad once, maybe twice. I started with a quick and easy recipe, because as always I put myself in the position of squeezing my urge of baking between chores and appointments. Renouncing is not an option. Continue reading / Continua a leggere…

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Saffron and Chilli Bread Thins / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Sfoglie di pane allo zafferano e peperoncino

Pubblicato il 25 novembre 2016 da rise of the sourdough preacher

Crack, crunch, crock! As I crunch through a bread thin the first thing coming up to my mind is the classic comic balloon words written in a bold uppercase font and the exclamation point, slightly bigger than the character as to give strength to the onomatopoeic sound. To me crunchy foods, especially if they are baked goods, are irresistible. Is it an ancient heritage we carry with us that drives us to go through entire packs of crunchy crisps and crumbly grissini?

After a quick glance at the blog I realized that along all these years I posted few recipes for crackers. Such a gap had to be filled as soon as possible, I thought to myself! It’s thanks to chilli and a brilliant intuition (which I admit was totally random as when opening the “Food Thesaurus” the first ingredient I came across was saffron) I baked these amazing bread thins. Without modesty I can say this recipe is among the best I ever made for the blog when it’s up to crackers and Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook.

These bread thins are quite spicy, so if you do not like spicy food but you still want to feel a slight tingling I recommend to halve the amount of chilli.

Continue reading / Continua a leggere…

MTC Challenge’s Chestnuts: Chestnut flour Ravioli, stuffed with walnuts and bread, topped with melted cheese / Le Castagne dell’MTC Challenge: Ravioli alla farina di castagne ripieni di noci e pane, con fonduta di formaggella ticinese

Pubblicato il 28 novembre 2013 da rise of the sourdough preacher

And here I am, out of breath, red faced and perpetually late. Kind of funny, because this is not my usual self. Indeed, more than often I am the one standing at the meeting point staring nervously at the clock ten minutes in advance (In fact I was almost one hour in advance at the Migros contest!). But with the blog things work differently and last minute posts are the rule. Continue reading / Continua a leggere…

What a Daring Challenge! Sfogliatelle ricce / Che sfida ardita, le Sfogliatelle ricce per Daring Bakers!

Pubblicato il 27 novembre 2013 da rise of the sourdough preacher

Sandie of the lovely blog, Crumbs of Love, was our November hostess. Sandie challenged us to make a traditional Italian dessert, along with its American version – Sfogliatelle (or better known in the US – lobster tails!) The flakey, 1000 layers of super thin dough, shaped into a horn and filled with a scrumptious filling. Così buono!

Sfogliatelle ricce has always been one of my favourite sweet treats. Anything made out of layers, especially food, fascinates me. Like a surgeon I dissect mozzarella layer by layer, and do the same thing with Msemen, a moroccan bread a friend taught me to bake recently that will be surely included in the blog. Savouring sfogliatelle I’m used to gently pull one end to see at which extent the spiral will unravel before breaking. It’s a childish but irresistible way of savouring food. Continue reading / Continua a leggere…

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Turmeric, Ginger and Black Pepper Crackers / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Crackers alla curcuma, zenzero e pepe nero

Pubblicato il 12 giugno 2015 da rise of the sourdough preacher

Sometimes they come back again. I can’t stay away from crunchy baked goods, they definitely have a hold on me! After having delighted you with my rye, toasted flour and thyme crackers, emmer knacker brot with mixed seeds, dried wild fennel leaves, lemon and pepper crackers, sourdough crackers and sourdough bread thins I think it’s about time to present you a new recipe Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook, this time using a part of pastry flour and shortening to favour crunchiness. They are simply irresistible! Turmeric gives them an intense and pleasant flavour while ginger adds a little freshness. Black pepper fits well anywhere adding a bit of a kick that is felt just at the end, giving these crackers a little extra. Enjoy these snacks along with an aperitif or during a study break (can’t think of the amount of crackers I did eat during my university days!). They are very easy to make and do not require much time so you have no excuse not to try them out for the next dinner or party you’ll be throwing at home!

Continue reading / Continua a leggere…

Whole Rye Flour and White Wine Taralli / Taralli alla segale rotta e vino bianco

Pubblicato il 10 ottobre 2014 da rise of the sourdough preacher

It has been quite a while since I last posted a recipe to use up sourdough leftovers, but once more my leftover jar lay in the fridge almost filled to the brim. What to do? Yes, we all do love bread thins, breadsticks and fritters but I wanted to bake something new. In the end inspiration came to me in guise of a tarallo. I still remember discovering taralli during the first year of Art School in Varese. Continue reading / Continua a leggere…