Artisan Bread

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Artisan bread - Chandra Kant

  1. Take 3 cups normal atta (wheat flour), half tsp salt and half tsp yeast (fresh is best). Mix together and add around 1.5 to 2 cups barely warm water to make a sticky chapati dough. Leave overnight or 12 hours. This will more than double so use a container big enough.
  2. Grease a baking tin / glassware with oil and sprinkle flour. Knead the dough for 2-3 mins (all air will be released) and put in baking tin. Cover with cloth and leave for an hour till it doubles.
  3. Preheat oven to 225 Deg C. Cover the dough with foil and bake for 30 mins. remove foil and bake for additional 10 mins. Cool in tin for 10 mins, separate from sides, remove and cut.
  4. Best used for making Crostini (see photo below).

Crostini - Chandra Kant

Christmas Cake

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Christmas Cake

1 kg chopped dried fruits ( raisins, currants, sultanas, deseeded dates etc)
125 ml rum
Juice and rind of 2 oranges.

Mix the above and refrigerate for a day.

250 gm butter at room temp
1.5 cups brown sugar
5 eggs at room temp
125 gm almonds, soaked overnight, skinned, chopped. Reserve a handful to decorate top with halves.
2 1/2 cups flour (normal flour is okay)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder.

Preheat oven to 150C.

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder.
Beat the butter. Add sugar gradually. Blend until light and fluffy. Add the eggs beating well after each addition

Mix in the almonds. Then fold in the flour mix about half a cup at a time. Then fold in the dry fruit mix.

Spoon batter into an 8″ cake tin lined with greaseproof paper. Make a slight depression in the centre (the cake will bulge up in the centre). Arrange the reserved almond halves on top. Place a sheet of aluminium foil on top to prevent it from browning too much.

Bake for 2 hrs. Reduce oven temperature to 140C. Bake for another hour. Remove the foil on top and bake a further 30 mins or until a skewer or knife inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool for about an hour. Remove from tin and let cool completely. Wrap in aluminium foil and refrigerate. The older it gets the better it tastes.