Sweet Bread Rolls without yeast

So, looking for a quick recipe to make sweet bread rolls perfect for soups or just to eat as breakfast or a snack? Well look no further. My mum had this amazing recipe that made fluffy little bread rolls and I have tried for ages to find it. Made some but it didn't quite come out the same. Until, I came across this recipe which I adapted and it came out very delicious. So here's my adaptation:

You need:

125g Plain flour
1.5 tsp of baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp of sugar
25g/ 5 tsps of butter or margarine
1/3 cup of milk

What to do:  

1. Preheat the oven to 220^°C
2. Sieve together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and mix.
3. Rub in the butter/ margarine until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk, then mix together with a round bladed knife or table knife.
5. Mix into a dough with fingers, lightly flower the bowl or a board and turn dough in it.
6. Divide into 5 or 6 portions and shape into rolls.
7. Place on a greased and floured baking tray, brush with milk and bake near the top of the oven for about 20 minutes.
8. Eat warm and enjoy!


  
NOTE
-  If you are making a roll to serve with soups you can omit the sugar or if you don't want it sweet. You can also slightly reduce the sugar if you don't want it too sweet.
- It can be a bit heavy, I actually used a bit more baking powder than the recipe called for and it came out fluffy inside not heavy. I will try it with even more baking powder, so I suggest if you want it to be a bit lighter use more baking powder, but do be careful.
- Best enjoyed warm from the oven but still a bit okay cold.
- Great accompaniment to soups or served with meals.

Hope you enjoy this! :)

Crunchy Nigerian Chin-chin

So, here I was trying to make chin-chin. I made one batch and while it was nice it certainly wasn't as crunchy as I liked it. Tried again, no difference. Then I came across this recipe, and it made the tastiest crunchiest chin-chin ever and guess what? I didn't use egg! I am munching as I type and enjoying it. This was my first time trying chin-chin without egg (first time I'd heard of it even) and it came out really nice (not my words!.) This took me about 1hr 30 mins to 1hr 45 mins no joke. So...Here it is, enjoy!

What you'll need: 

800g of plain flour
60ml of milk or 1 egg & 40ml of milk
160g of granulated sugar (ground finely in a dry mill)
100g of Margarine
1.5 tsp of nutmeg
Vegetable/ Sunflower oil (for frying)


What to do:

1. Mix the sugar and milk (and egg if using) together and leave to soak. (Original recipe I used said without egg, I used egg and milk by second attempt and it came out crunchy still!)
      


(egg, milk and sugar)                          (milk and sugar)

2. In another bowl, mix the flour and ground nutmeg.

      

3. Then rub in the butter with your fingers until the flour is smooth and there are no lumps.

      

4. Add the sugar/milk mixture to the flour and mix until it forms a smooth dough. The dough will be a bit hard/ stiff. Do not add more liquid no matter how tempted you are, maybe just a few drops to ensure the dough forms if it still seems crumbly.



5. Roll out the dough gently using a rolling pin until it is flat.

6. Cut the dough into sizes as you desire.

7. Line a colander with newspaper. Fry in hot oil and drain in the colander. 

(without egg)

(with egg)

Leave it to cool, store in an airtight container and enjoy at your leisure!

My Quest for the perfect Madeira Cake

First attempt. 06/03/2012:

Update. Second attempt 30/07/2011:

Yup...getting there!

So, here's my recipe. It's pretty simple so whatever your size of cake just remember that the self-raising flour, sugar and butter are the same measurement as are the egg and the plain flour. (for the egg just round up or down as you see fit if you get what I mean). Feel free to use either lemon or vanilla, I like to use both. And feel free to tweak to your taste.

What you'll need:

                                                       8-inch (round)                      9/10-inch (round)

Self-raising flour                                       10 oz                                   12.5 oz

Plain flour                                                 5 oz                                    6.25 oz

Sugar                                                       10 oz                                   12.5 oz

Butter                                                      10 oz                                   12.5 oz

Eggs                                                          5                                          6/7

Vanilla Essence                                          1 tsp                                     2 tsps

Lemon Rind (grated)                                1 lemon                                 2 lemons    

Lemon Juice                                       half of a lemon                          one lemon

Milk (optional)                                         1 tsp                                       2 tsps

What to do:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the lemon rind, juice and vanilla essence. (you can use vanilla flavouring instead but essence is a bit more concentrated and therefore better).

  

3. Add the egg a little at a time mixing briskly to avoid curdling. You can add a little flour with the egg to avoid curdling.

4. Add the self-raising flour and plain flour and mix until a thick but pourable consistency is achieved. (next time I bake I'll take a picture of what it should look like)

5. Add the milk (optional) and mix well but not too much.

Note: if adding milk, use less lemon juice. If you want to use lemon juice, forgo the milk. The more lemon juice you use the looser and more crumbly your cake and vice versa.

6. Pour into a lined cake tin and scoop out centre towards the side of the tin (this is so that it does not form a dome but instead has a nice flat surface.

7. Bake in the oven at 160*C for 1.5 hours.

8. Leave to cool for 10 mins in tin on a wire rack. Then turn cake out on tin and directly onto wire rack and allow to cool. 

9. Enjoy your cake. Wrap in foil and store in airtight tin to enable it last longer.

Tip:

- Use 6 newspaper sheets folded to wrap the outside of your cake tin. This ensures that the outside takes longer to cook enabling the inside of the cake to bake properly without the outside getting burnt.

- Use a good baking liner for the inside, it makes it so much easier to take your cake out of the tin. Mine is reusable and my cakes don't stick to the sides of the cake tin! Nothing I use it for sticks really which is quite good.

- Make sure to scoop the centre out well. This is so that when it eventually starts to rise that's when the centre starts to fill up and rise and you don't end up with a dome.

- Use unsalted butter where possible. Yes, there is a difference.

- You can use more grated lemon rind if you wish but don't use too much lemon juice, it will make the cake too crumbly and it will just fall apart in your hands when eating.