Macro dumplings for MTC Challenge / Canederli macro per l’MTC Challenge

New year, new challenges. It seems only yesterday that Francesca challenged us with a her literary inspired muffin, but it has been two months now. Enough to relax and forget how the MTC Challenge can put my brain and creativity under enormous pressure. Couple this with my macro lifestyle adventure and you can just imagine how difficult it will be for me from now on…but stubborn as I am the goal this year will be to be able to participate to all of MTC’s challenges by inventing all sorts of macro alternatives to the recipes and ingredients we will be given. Honestly these dumplings were a walk in the park if I consider the risk of running into a dessert recipe, or worse a brioche dough rich in eggs, butter and sugar. But challenges are vital in my life and for my blog(s) too and I am ready to face any recipe, even though I fear many tears will be shed being failure and disappointment just around the corner with macro cooking!

Braided Butter Bread / Treccia al burro

Braided Butter Bread, Sunday breakfast’s favourite. As a child this rich and soft bread would appear on our table only on the seventh day of the week and was to be enjoyed with a thin layer of butter and a sweet homemade jam.

Panissimo’s Ecole de boulangerie: Le Boulot / Panissimo e la sua Ecole de boulangerie: il Boulot/Baulotto

It has become a habit lately, to defer my post for Panissimo‘s École de Boulangerie. Between one thing and another posting the École bread of the current month has become more of a challenge, and in the end I decided to just let go! Overdoing it now is not an option, as it would mean saturate the blog on almost a daily basis. I’d rather stick to quality – both in the recipes and pictures – than rush for the next post. The chosen bread shape for the month of March was boulot, a loaf with a nice central slash. Bread slashing, my damnation!

Easter Bread: Hot Cross Buns / Pane Pasquale: Hot cross buns

Yet another month and Panissimo is back again. March marked the beginning of the “Easter leavened season”, which is usually known for complex and rich in fat recipes. Usually the time required for testing and improving these recipes is significant.

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.