Honey walnut bread

 
This bread is simply delicious. A bread stuffed with walnuts and with a hint of sweetness from honey, perfect for breakfast or whenever you feel the craving for some carbs - perfect. Even my friends who don't eat bread come over for lunch if they know I'm making this, and my father can eat a whole loaf by himself - it is that good. Make it yourself and you'll probably fall in love with it as well.

Recipe:
30 g fresh yeast
4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 cup walnuts
6-7 cups all purpose flour
1-2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rye flour
1 cup rolled oats

Crumble the yeast and dissolve it in one cup of the water. Make sure the water's got the right temperature, as the bread won't rise if the water's too cold and the yeast will be killed if too hot. Once completely dissolved, add the remaining water, honey, oil, salt and walnuts, and continue to mix. I usually use a stand mixer when making this bread, as the dough is pretty big and the recipe calls for a lot of kneading.

Let the mixer go, and while mixing, add 4 cups of flour, one cup of whole wheat flour, the rye flour and rolled oats. Add more flour until the dough lets go off the bowl, but be careful not to add to much. The dough should be really sticky! Continue to mix on medium speed for about 10 minutes, cover the dough with a towel and let rise until doubled in size (about 45 minutes). Punch the dough down, and let rest for an additional 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 420 degrees F and oil four bread pans. When the dough is done proofing, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead, knead knead! Add more flour if necessary. Cut the dough in four equal pieces and place in prepared pans. Cover with a towel and let rise for 30-60 minutes. Bake in oven for twenty minutes, and let cool completely before removing bread from pan.

Homemade bagels

Who doesn't like bagels? Chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside and perfect for week-end breakfasts with cream cheese and a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. Mmmmm! What's better than baked goods on a sunday morning? I tell you: not much. Especially not better than the home-made, fresh-out-of-the oven kind of baked goods like these bagels. Life just doesn't get much better.

Of course, you could just run by your nearest deli and buy some bagels. You could. However, you won't. At least not after you've tried making these. They're so good, and - to be bagels - relatively easy to make. In little more than two hours, you'll have bagels in the oven, just waiting to sliced, toasted and enjoyed. How perfect is that? All you need is flour, yeast, salt and water, and some time to kill - and tah-dah: perfect bagels for you and your beloved ones.

Recipe:
2 tsp dry yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup hot water
3 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Put half of the water, yeast and sugar in a bowl and let stand for five minutes. Meanwhile, mix flour and salt in another bowl, and make a well in the middle in which you pour the yeast mixture and the rest of the water once the five minutes have passed. Mix, and knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes. The dough should feel firm, smooth and elastic.

Oil a large baking bowl, and turn the dough to coat. Let it rise under a damp towel for one whole hour, until doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and let it rest for an additional 10-15 minutes.

Carefully divide the dough into 7-8 equally big pieces, shape into balls and punch a whole in the middle. Let them rest under a damp towel on a lightly oiled baking-sheet for 10 minutes.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and heat your oven to 190 C. Once the bagels are ready, drop one or two of them into the boiling water, careful not to overcrowd the pot. The bagel should float within a couple of seconds. Boil for 1-2 minutes on one side, turn, and boil for another minute or so. Continue with all of the bagels.

Put the bagels into the preheated oven, and bake for 10 minutes. Take the bagels out, turn them, and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven, spread on some cream cheese and smoked salmon and take a big bite. You deserve it.

molten chocolate cakes

Sometimes, not very often, but still once in a while, I get these big cravings for something extra rich, extra gooey, extra decadent and extra good. Like today. After all, it is week-end, so I'm allowed to eat whatever I want without any bad conscience - and these heavenly molten chocolate cakes are worth every calorie! I promise you, they're life changing. They're that good. Bitter, dark chocolate combined with fresh raspberries and a scoop or three of vanilla ice cream - how can life possibly get any better?

There's only one word to describe these: fantastic. They're fabulousness in a cake. They're perfect. This is why God created chocolate, people - for us to enjoy with a glass of milk. Make them, please, will you?

Recipe:
1 cup frozen raspberries
2 oz dark chocolate
1/2 stick + 2 tbsp butter (softened)
2/3 cup + 3 tbsp brown sugar (separated)
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla sugar
2/3 cup cake flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 F/175 C.

Generously butter four ramekins. Microwave the frozen raspberries until soft and pour off the extra liquid. Toss with 3 tbsp of sugar, and place equal amounts in the buttered ramekins.

Melt chocolate in a double-boiler. Place butter and the remaining amount of sugar in a bowl, and "knead" the sugar into the butter (I use my hands, but you're free to use a hand-mixer if you prefer). Mix in egg yolks, melted chocolate and vanilla sugar, and beat until well combined. Pour 1/3 of the flour, 1/3 of the cocoa powder, salt and milk into the batter, and stir well with a spatula (or whatever other utensil of your liking). Continue with the rest of the dry ingredients, milk and sour cream until everything is well combined. Fill the prepared ramekins with the batter, and bake in the oven for 17 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream and milk. Enjoy.

Recipe adapted from foodess.