Possumchops Bakehouse

So my weekend was full of baking. The house smelt delicious for most of sunday, and I just happened to have on hand some gorgeous Passionfruit and White Chocolate Muffins on hand when Gramps popped around for a visit. Yum, yum, yummy! The only reason I made these was because I had most of a can of passionfruit left over after Chicken requested passionfruit yogurt to be made this weekend (divine BTW!). Glad I did, but darn my poor hips will be screaming at me for weeks now!

I also churned out another Pumpkin Loaf, made a very dodgy attempt at home made LCMs (seemed like a waste of perfectly fine rice bubbles and marshmallows to me), and then had a play with a box of bread and pizza dough flour I discovered a couple of weeks ago.

Specifically, I wanted to make a focaccia for lunch, however, I got distracted and it ended up being a side to a Chicken Cacciatore that we had for dinner on Sunday night. It come out ok. Think the base needed a little olive oil added to the mix, which I will try next time. But basically I just followed the bread making instructions on the box and divided the dough in half. One half I turned into a few little buns, which we scoffed hot out of the oven slathered in butter and vegemite, and the second half we got this:
I topped it with a handful of herbs from the garden, including parsley, oregano, rosemary and garlic, that I bashed in my mortar and pestle with Olive oil (can't use my Jamie Oliver flavour shaker as it has large cracks in it and one of my devil children has gone and lost the ball in it so I can't even get it replaced!) . I poured that across the bread and massaged it in a bit and added some chopped cherry toms, a little salami and crumbled some vintage cheese across it. It was left to proof and then baked on my pizza stone, which always gives the bases such a light and crunchy texture, just the way I love it.

I actually really enjoy making bread. I find the whole kneeding process relaxing, and it just lets you zone out and sort of get closer with your food. Or does that make me sound odd?

Anyways, I'm brewing the idea of making hot cross buns this weekend, and I'm also thinking about dusting off the old pasta maker and making some pasta as well, especially now that I also discovered pasta making flour. That has to work so much better than good old White Wings plain white flour doesn't it?