Ricotta Pancakes

This recipe is so yummy. The pancakes are fluffy and creamy at the same time. I made a ton of them (I had to feed 6 people and wasn't sure how many I needed, so if you are just trying this you better make half the batch) and even though some were left after breakfast, they never saw dusk. Since ricotta is a little bit sweet on its own, I didn't add that much sugar and they were just perfect.

Ingredients:

• 400g ricotta
• 300g flour (half plain, half wholewheat) 
• 300ml milk
• 3 table spoons brown sugar
• 2 pinches of salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tea spoon baking powder
• 6 eggs (separate 4 whites, the rest goes straight in)

 1) You know me, you know I'll just put everything in one bowl without making it go through the sieve first. Just mix it all together with the exception of the 4 egg whites. Combine till smooth.

2) In a separate bowl, beat the whites till stiff peaks form. Then fold it gently into the mix.

3) Butter your pan and start frying them. Brush the pan with the butter before putting in a new pancake so that it doesn't stick.

Baguettes

I know, let's make some baguettes! I tire easily when looking at bread-shaped things so I decided to take the easy recipe and see if I could make baguette-shaped food from it. It turned out I could. Yay! 

Ingredients:

• 40g yeast (from the cube)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 300ml warm water
• 500g flour
• 1,5 teaspoon salt
•  water for brushing

1)  Put the yeast and sugar in a small bowl and pour the water over it. Stir every once in a while till all combines.

2) Have the flour and salt in a larger bowl and when the yeast is ready, pour it on top. Do not mix. Cover it with tea towel and let it rest in warm environment. 

3) Wait till the yeast rises (about 30 minutes), then combine. What you are going to do next is that you fold the dough every 30 minutes. At least four times.

4) After the endless folding, cut the dough into 4 parts and shape each into a baguette. Cut lines on the top and put it onto a baking tray. Before you put it in the oven, brush the baguettes with water. 

5) Bake for about 25 minutes at 200°C. After taking them out of the oven, brush them with water one last time. You should know they are ready when the are gold/brown and when you tap them, they sound like they are made of concrete :-) but worry not, they will soften as they cool down. 

Note: plain flour baguettes will rise a lot in the oven (the thick ones in the picture), whole grain ones tend to be in the shape you put them in (the long darker ones in the picture).

Bread with a whiff of the South

I have a recipe for really good and easy bread but I decided to spice things up a little. So every time I make it, I experiment with extra ingredients. This one is a favourite among our family.

You'll need (small loaf)

• 2 cups flour (I use 1 cup whole grain which I have at the moment of making - rye, barley, etc. they all work fine, with 1 cup of what is called bread flour in the shop T1000 the cover says)
• 1 cup water
• 20g yeast (from the cube)
• 1 tea spoon salt
• and now the extras: 7 sun dried tomatoes (chopped), 2 table spoons herbs de provence, 3 table spoons pumpkin seeds, 3 table spoons flax seeds.

1)  Mix all the ingredients together and let it rest in dark warm ennvironment for a couple of hours. I usually make it in the morning and then bake it in the evening so that we can eat it for breakfast the next day.
2) Preheat your oven to 220°C.
3) If you have a glass bread pan, put the pan on the oven and take it our after a while and then put the dough in. If you have one of those non-stick things, just put the dough in and then in the oven. If you have something else, grease the pan and pour some flour in it first so that the dough won't be able to stick to the pan, then put the dough in and put it in the oven.
4) I usually bake this 30 minutes with a cover on and then remove it and let it get nice light brown color in the following 15 minutes. (If you are making double-sized bread, add 10 minutes to the covered baking and five to the no-cover baking)
5) Let it cool on the cooling rack and enjoy!

Beer bread

I’m sure you know that Czech people consume most beer per capita. It’s nearly 150 liters a year for one person. That is 300 hundred bottles. 

I’m not sure who drinks mine because I consume about three bottles a year. And by consume I really mean eat. I don’t drink it. Beer is quite popular ingredient in many a dishes, so here is the most simple one. 

As one Czech saying goes: “Beer is the nation’s bread.” So, let’s turn our proverbial bread into actual bread. And let’s add a potato to make it soft longer.

You are going to need (for a small loaf):

• 250ml pale lager
• 500g flour (just because it’s Christmas and we are supposed to sin the most, I used plain flour, not whole grain I usually use)
• 1 potato
• 20g yeast (the one from the cube)
• 1 table spoon salt
• optional: typical Czech bread spice is cumin, I hate it so I don’t use it but you can if you really want to get it right add one table spoon

1)      Boil the potato, let it cool down, peel it, and grate it. 
2)   Mix all the ingredients together and knead till it forms dough (that is gonna take some effort, trust me) which doesn’t stick to your fingers or which doesn’t fall apart. 
3)    Let it sit somewhere in the dark warm spot so that the yeast can do it’s job for about an hour or two. 
4)    Preheat your oven to 210°C and put your bread pan or tray into it. When the oven is the right temperature, put your dough into the hot pan or whatever you use to make bread in. Cover it with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.  
5)    After 30 minutes, lower the temperature to 170°C and bake without the cover for another 30 minutes. 
6)    Take it out, let it cool down on a baking rack (don’t let it in the pan, the bread has to “breathe” – the air must come to it from all sides).