Salmon & poached egg on rye bread

Up to that morning I had never poached an egg in my life. It always seemed like too much of a hassle and reading all the comments online regarding how difficult it is to do it properly I just never got the courage to give it a shot. However, as I am a huge fan of having smoked salmon with scrambled eggs on a slice of toast I finally decided to give poaching a try - it's basically the same thing, just looks a lot fancier.

It goes without saying that I did quite a bit of research into how to poach an egg and it was surprising how many different - and conflicting - options were out there. Put salt, don't put salt, add vinegar, no need to add vinegar etc. So when it came down to making the decision which one to follow I decided to go with Gordon Ramsay's version that I found on BBC Good Food and purely for the reason that every other recipe by him that I've tried has come out amazing. And I can now report back that the poached egg was a success as well!

I rarely eat eggs during the week and consider them to be kind of a treat for breakfast as I am great believer that every bite should be savoured, not just swallowed down as quickly as possible. So it is quite nice every now and then to take the extra 20 minutes to prepare something nice and tasty and then enjoy eating it as well. I love how the rye bread provides substance, salmon the richness the poached egg adds just the right amount of creaminess. It's definitely a treat that I'll make for myself again!

Ingredients
(Serves 1)
- 25g smoked salmon
- Slice of rye bread (or any other bread)
- 1 egg
- Pepper, to serve
- 1l water
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- Butter

Directions
Firstly, place the water in a saucepan, add the vinegar and bring to simmer over medium heat. Then, use a spoon to create a vortex and drop in the egg, this way the egg white will automatically curl around the yolk and leave it in for 3 minutes if you like your yolk creamy (for less if you like it very runny and for longer if you prefer it more solid). In the meantime prepare the salmon sandwich - rye bread, butter and salmon - and place on a plate. When the egg is done, take it out with a slotted spoon and dry with a peace of kitchen towel, making sure you don't pat too hard (don't want to brake it). Place the egg on top of the sandwich and serve immediately with some freshly ground pepper. Enjoy!

Wholemeal bread with mixed seeds

As I've had quite a bit of free time in my hands lately I decided to give bread-making another go. As I absolutely love my rye bread patties I wanted to give making a wholegrain loaf a go. We all know the benefits of eating wholegrain - more fibre, meaning that we'll feel fuller for longer and also fibre aids digestion. However, I've not quite found the perfect wholegrain bread here in Singapore and so as I'm on my summer holiday I just decided to give it a go. And the speed at which the first loaf disappeared I just had to make a second one few days after. I can honestly tell you that it is nearly impossible to resist fresh and warm homemade bread so it is not surprising that we finished over half of the loaf within 30 minutes of me taking it out of the oven. We had the bread with slightly salted butter and some turkey ham and I can tell you that it felt like a big pile of goodness had just melted in my mouth the moment I took the bite.

Compared to the store-bought breads this is a lot denser and has a slight nutty taste to it, which in my opinion makes it taste even better. And as to the denseness, that just means that you need to eat it less than the store-bought stuff to feel satisfied (but as said before, it didn't stop us from eating over half the loaf in one go).

Obviously this isn't proper proper bread in the sense that I still used yeast and not a started, but frankly I'm a bit impatient and when I decide to make something I want to make it now and not wait for like a week before I can finally get down to baking my bread. So call it cheating if you want to, but I promise that the moment you try the bread you couldn't care less whether it was made with starter or yeast.

I'd love to tell you for how long it keeps, but as you might have guessed already it disappears pretty fast. So far it's kept nice and soft for 2 days in a airtight container - I sliced up the bread and keep them in small batches in ziplock sandwich bags. This is obviously best enjoyed when fresh, but it is also divine toasted. Eat as a snack, make it into a filling sandwich, serve on the side of a soup or warm it up and serve with some butter - any way is delicious.

Ingredients

(Makes 1 loaf)
- 500g strong wholemeal bread flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp dry yeast
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 380ml warm water
- Mixed seeds, to sprinkle

Directions
First mix the flour, salt and dry yeast. Then add warm water and honey. Mix the dough and when its still a bit lumpy add the olive oil. Knead it well until it feels nice and smooth. Place in a bowl and cover with a tea towel and let it stand for 1,5 hours in a warm place for it to double in size.

Place the dough on a floured surface and knead once more (for around 3-5 minutes). If you wish to have seeds in your loaf then this is the place to add them. Line the bread making tray with baking parchment or just cover with a small layer of olive oil and place the dough in the tray. Sprinkle over with some mixed seeds (I used sunflower and pumpkin seeds this time) and cover the tray with a tea towel. Preheat the oven to 200C (fan) and let the bread rise for another 25 minutes. I find that this is approximately the same amount of time needed for the oven to heat up. Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes.

When ready remove from the tray and place on a cutting board and cover with a towel and let it cool down a bit before cutting (just makes it easier and this way you'll avoid burning yourself as well). Enjoy!

 

 

Rye bread patties

Well, I'm officially done with all the studying and now just have to wait for my results and graduation. I always find the first few days of holiday quite difficult to cope with - after being so busy during the exams and deadlines and then suddenly I find myself in a situation where I don't know what to do with my time. So yesterday after I came come I decided to do something that I've always wanted to try but have never gotten around to doing - try to make rye bread patties, just like the ones I always bring with me from Estonia.

Both my fiancé and I are huge fans of this healthy food and the thing is that I haven't been able to find it here in Singapore. There is Fazer Rustika, which is quite close in taste but its pretty pricey (I get 1,5 packs of that for the money I spent on the ingredients to make the batch at home) and it really adds up, as we eat a lot of it. So that gave me another (and a very good reason) to give it a go.

After some googling I finally found a recipe that I was willing to give a shot. I needed something that was relatively quick to make (this one took around 2 hours, including the baking time) and that is fast for bread making as most recipes require you to make the started days beforehand. I have to admit that I didn't know what to expect and when I finally tried it I was blown away - I never want to go back to the store bought stuff! Warm, soft on the inside, nice crust on the outside and divine smell (the whole flat smelled of home-cooked bread) - what is there not to love! I love it because it is so easy to make, doesn't require a breadmaker or kneading (you can use a spoon) and just takes 15 minutes to cook. Trust me, once you try you'll understand what I'm talking about.

This bread is perfect for breakfast sandwiches,  to accompany soups and stews and something nice to just toast and eat with butter when feeling peckish.

Ingredients

(Makes 12 breads)
- 10g instant yeast (or 30g fresh yeast)
- 500ml warm water
- 700ml rye bread
- 200ml white flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 1.5 tbsp honey
- Extra rye bread for making the shapes

Directions
Firstly mix the yeast with 1 tablespoon warm water to make smooth paste and add the rest of the water and 400ml of rye flour. Mix until nicely combined, cover with cling film and set aside to a warm place let the dough raise for 1,5 hours.

After 1,5h add the rest of rye flour, white flour, salt and honey and mix well. You can use a spoon to mix it as the dough is quite liquid. Line two baking trays with baking paper and take a big spoon of dough, mix it into a ball and press flat (make sure you're hands are dusted with rye flour as otherwise the dough will stick) and place on the baking tray. Cover both trays with a hand towel and let the bread rise until the oven heats up to 225C. Bake both batches for 12-15 minutes until the breads are nice and light brown on top.

After taking them out and before cutting them half let them cool down under towel again (they're easier to halve this way).

Recipe from toidutare.ee