Baking Barbara's old fashioned chocolate cake with Balsamic strawberry & Cream filling - Eggless

Hi every body, how are you all doing J, It’s high time I posted my Tried and Tested , rather I should say tasted recipes, this was another one I baked from Deeba’s  blog.  This was an Eggless desert as the Title says and of course from whom it’s been adapted.

My Verdict: What a delightful cake, I was little wondering when it called for 2 cups of hot water and the cake dough was so watery!, But then I thought, One is avid Baker ( Barbara Bakes) and the other one is a passionate baker, twice tested and definitely would never fail. Have you seen what Deeba has written in left hand side column of her blog, which I always love reading every time I go to her blog, it says –

Blog bakers, blog bakers, bake as fast as you can, make it and bake it, Ice it and spice it and mark it with ‘B’, pop it on to the blog for Bakers and me

Isn’t it lovely ? J

Two blog bakers what can something go wrong, I made two cakes out of the same recipe, one I made Chocolate Based and the other one a plain one, as they were quite Big Cakes and I will have a hard time to finishing them off as too much sweet is not welcome at home.  She asks you to prepare two cakes so you get four layers and the filling for each layer, pop into her blog for most beautiful photos and how she has done it or should I say created it, please do not compare with mine!

I did make the cake and then the frosting, but the decorating I had little helpers who helped themselves in decorating their own they wanted to try what deeba had done but it was in vain as my second daughter did something with beating the cream, well whatever it was the cream was so delicious and cake too....

I have copied the recipe to the tee...

Here is how it goes.....

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CHOCOLATE CAKE:

 3 Cups All purpose flour

1 3/4^th cups of Sugar

½ Cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp Baking soda

1 tsp Salt

2 Cups hot water

3/4^th Cup Vegetable oil

2 tbsp distilled white vinegar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 180° C, line the bottom of 1  9"  Spring form tin round cake pan.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, Baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Do not use a mixer.

Next combine water, oil, vinegar and vanilla in a large bowl.  Add to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined, try to have no lumps if you have its ok she says, but I saw to it that they don’t have any lumps.

Now put the batter into the prepared tins, then bake until a tooth pick inserted in the centre comes out clean, It really takes a long time so don’t panic it nearly took 50-60 minutes that’s my oven I suppose (her timing is 35-40 minutes for each cake.

Cool the cake on a rack for 15 minutes then invert them onto the rack, Leave the cake upside down (this helps in flattening the domed cakes) to cool completely.

I slice it into two layers and sandwich with Balsamic Strawberry and Cream filling recipe for this is below J

After the filling rest the cake in the fridge for about ½ an hour, and then frost with chocolate Ganache to which recipe follows below J



BALSAMIC STRAWBERRY AND CREAM FILLING:

INGREDIENTS:

300ml Low fat cream ( I just used Ordinary one)

200 gm strawberries, chopped

¼ Cup sugar ( I added a bit more after tasting it, as I thought my kids might it prefer                                                                                                                  more sweetness)

1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1-2 tbsp powdered sugar

METHOD:

Place strawberries, sugar and balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan, and simmer till it  becomes thick and jam like, I added vanilla extract in the end, and let it simmer for few more minutes . The cool it completely, beat cream to medium stiff peaks and gently fold in cooled strawberry mixture, taking care not release the volume of the cream.

This one is super, my kids loved it, thanks Deeba for this lovely cream filling

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

200 gms dark chocolate, room temperature

150 ml low fat cream, room temperature

METHOD:

In a double boiler method I melted the chocolate and 100ml of cream or you can microwave 30-40 seconds in a heat proof bowl.  Stir well to combine both into a smooth Ganache, give the cake one basic thin coating with this and reserve some for piping decorations.  Add the remaining 50 ml cream and mix until smooth.

If you want to see the lovely Clicks log on to her website for the pleasant to heart, eyes and soul clicks of this beautiful cake here is the link http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/2011/04/bakingbarbaras-old-fashioned-chocolate-cake-with-
balsamic-strawberry-cream-filling-eggless.html




I am sending this to my own event Tried and Tested from Deeba's Blog of Passionate about Baking event of zlamushka's taken care of Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles  and also ''Only Baked'' event started by Pari of foodelicious and hosted by Harini of Tamalapaku. I am sending this to Anu's event Berries - Strawberries 

Bloggers Marathon # 3 - Parita's World

Hi everybody, updated on August 26th:
As I haven't received a single entry for this event from Parita's world I have decided to extend the event till the 31st of August, Hope to see if anybody is willing to participate

Hi everybody, Just now I announced by Only Event of Pari, I am back with my own project of ''Bloggers Marathon'', which I had left unattended from few months, I want to start it back again so I could cover at lot of bloggers as much as possible, Looking at the blogs growning it seems light years for me to stop this event!!.

Coming back to the event,  My own event and my favourite event and of course one of my favourite blogger, is a very happy thing, can you believe, I had kept this in my draft from April before I went to India!.

I love her blog, and her as a person, she has a fabulous blog, again like my T and T,  She is a blogger who bakes a lot, and if you love to bake, here is one blog you will love. I love to  say I baked my first cake from her blog and so immensely enjoyed by the whole family and did I tell  you I made this cake twice and sent it to H's office who also enjoyed it so much and my H loved it so much, he kept saying it was Gorgeous, and I loved it so much because of the flavour and fruit in it, It is one my favourite cakes, I never posted this cake, but surely will make again and post it soon, at least for this event, I even tried my first Eggless cake from her blog, which gave me a boost to all my Eggless bakes, I love her blog and I hope you all love her blog too..., A pure vegetarian blog with lot of lovely recipes, try out some of her recipes and send it to me.

BLOGGERS MARATHON # 3 - PARITA of Parita's World

As always we have to follow little rules:

As you all know that this is a ''ONLY ORIGINAL RECIPE EVENT''  and you know what it means the recipes from her blog should be hers/her family members/books, But, the Recipes she has tried out from any other blogs are not allowed as you know I want to cover every blogger out there in this marathon, that is why I do not want recipes tried out from other bloggers.

I do not want any recipes to be tweaked, stick to the Original recipe as much as possible. Do not try to change unless you have problems finding Ingredients and also you can are allowed to change veggies or fruits in the recipes.

Send me any number of entries Fresh or Archieved, but just do not forget to Link the post to my Event Page, and the Logo displayed in the post is mandatory, which will help spreading the Event Announced.

Running the Marathon with Blogger : Parita of Parita's world (http://paritaskitchen.blogspot.com)

This is a fortnightly event : August 1st - August 15th

Please send me

Your Name

Your Blog's Name
URL link of the recipe post

Picture of the recipe (300px)

Only Vegetarian Recipes Accepted (well as parita's blog is Vegetarian blog no need to worry)

Egg allowed.

Non Bloggers can also participate, in which case you have to just mail me your recipe and a click of the same to cookingisdivine@gmail.com , I will post it for you on your behalf.

Please do not forget this is a ''ONLY ORIGINAL RECIPES EVENT''., any quires please contact me...

Hop on to her kitchen and browse through her blog for some wonderful recipes....

C u soon... take care.

Only Pasta, Pizza and Noodles Event Announcement

Hi Everybody, hope you are all doing well, I hope to keep blogging on a regular basis from now on :), and here I come with end of the month with this wonderful event of Pari of Foodelicious - A series of Only Event.

Pari of Foodelicious gave me this lovely opportunity to host her Only series event and  I love to sincerely thank her for this.  Of course you all know Pari, with her lovely curries which I like the best and her creativity and her cooking style, I have a few of her Book marked recipes some tried out and some still need to try out. Coming to talk about the on going event in her blog  has a lovely theme as -  ‘’Only’’  interested me the most, this made me contact her, I just decided whatever she assigns me would be fine, Surprise, surprise and it was Pasta, Pizza and Noodles, Wow, that was my first expression, how did she know that my kids love all the three!, So, that’s it, I was fine with it and here we are with the ONLY PASTA, PIZZA AND NOODLES EVENT.
I would love to see all the different kind of sauces, creations of cusines and cultures which would be a great help for me try out new dishes for the above three which I would love to try out from your kitchen to mine, as my kids love all the three Goodies.


There is something else for you,  which you would certainly love guess what ?. Again this month Pari has announced a giveaway from Tarla Dalal, exactly you heard me right ? not just one giveaway but two books :)
She is giving away two books from the wonderful author : 
1. Noodles 
2. Pizzas and Pasta

Rules for giveaway


For winning the giveaway the participants after sending the entry to me have to leave the link of the entry in Pari's event announcement page and have to clearly inform Pari how they are eligible for it as
1.  You need to follow her blog publicly and
2. You have to be a fan on the face book page in her blog.
The winner has to provide Pari with the address at cookingoodfood@gmail.com so that she can make arrangements for the giveaway delivered to your door-step!. 


Rules of The Event
 1. Any number of fresh entries can be sent but only 2 enties from the archive will be accepted. Archived entries to be reposted, else will not be accepted.

2. Only vegetarian dishes accepted (eggs allowed).

3. Use of logo is mandatory as it helps spread the word.
4. The entry should be linked back to her event announcement page and Pari's 'Only'- Pizza, pasta and noodles giveaway page.
5. The winner of the book from Tarla Dalal will be chosen by Pari by random. org at the end of the event from the links left in her event announcement page.

6. Format of entry
Name

Blog's name
Blog  URL
Recipe name
Recipe link
Pic  resized to 300pixel
Country (this is an important field to be filled as it will be easy for us to know whether he/she is from India or abroad, hence applicable for the giveaway)

7. I will post the round up within 7 days of event completion unless there's an emergency.
8. I cannot win the giveaway as I'm guest hosting it.
9. Non bloggers can also participate, in that case they can send entries to me and I can post them on their behalf.

Please send in your entries to cookingisdivine@gmail.com by the 31st of August 2011 with the subject Only Pasta, Pizza and Noodles
  

Any queries please do drop me a line, will talk to pari and sort it out for you..

Happy Making/Baking of Pasta-Pizza and Noodles...

Mini-choco Bundt cake with Nutella Ganache (Eggless)

Hi everybody, hope you are all doing well, I know I disappear now and then, as usual I had such a mixed temperature today, all my work was in hay-where, in the end I did end up doing lot of things undone!, This has been in my draft from a long time, say when priya of Mharjo Rajasthan announced her T and T from US Masala :)). I tried two of her recipes and one is this,  It's me, I do my things at my own pace which is really not good for a competition or meeting dead lines. Well, I can't help it, with a family around you everything takes its own time.
Anyways, this was a total hit in my family, My kids just loved it, I did not make the Ganache at all, as usual I baked it late in the night and left it on the kitchen counter, We all went our ways next day and when I came back from work, I had left with only three!, so I just dropped the Idea of making Ganache, Dear little girl, who usually helps me with the photos,(my eldest) had been kind enough to leave 2 of them intact and the other one was almost ready to be consumed (that is why you can see in the photos that one is broken!!), and had to be stopped for our clicks. Thanks Aipi, for this wonderful recipe, my kids loved it (me too!, I usually don't eat, got tempted and was nicking from their plates), My eldest was asking me to bake again!, Here we go with the recipe..

MINI CHOCO BUNDT CAKE




INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup Atta
3/4th cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup Chocolate chips
2 tbsp Cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 th cup Sugar
1 Cup Milk + 2 tbsp
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 and 1/2 tsp Coffee powder



METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 400 dF/200 dC/ Gas mark 6, Spray or butter your Mini bundt cake tins and keep them ready.
First of all take both the flours and all the dry Ingredients except for chocolate chips and sugar, mix well, until well combined sieve all of them thrice at least so they are all well incorporated.
In a large bowl mix all your wet Ingredients thoroughly, do not whisk too much.
Then add the choco chips and then add the flour in batches, while seeing to it that you have no lumps and it is fully and thoroughly incorporated into the wet mixture, if you feel it is too thick add one or two tbsp of hot water.
Pour this into the prepared tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes depending upon your oven temperatures, or until when skewer inserted comes out clean.
Take it out of the oven and allow it cool, once it is cooled top it with Ganache and enjoy this lovely cake

Minor Changes I made : I interchanged the measure of the flours, I did not melt the choco chips and of course did not top it Ganache.

How to Make Nutella Ganache:
Take 3 tbsp of Nutella and add 1 and 1/2 tbsp of milk or Cream and heat it in Micro wave for 30-40 seconds, until it is of flowing consistency, pour it on the cakes and enjoy.

It was a very wonderful cake so soft and beautiful, and you would never know you missed Egg in it :)

Take a look at her blog at this link for a wonderful click of this recipe and how she has made it ....

Sending this to ''Only series'' of Pari's being co-hosted by Harini of Tamalapaku's ''Only Baked event''  .

Potato Slices with Sauteed Mushrooms

Kids, kids, kids, My life revolves around my kids, Everyday I try to please them, please myself when I serve food for them, please them..?, sometimes It's like a big question mark,  if I cook everyday Authentic Indian food suddenly their likes changes into dislikes.  They love variation in their everyday food, I keep telling them this is not a restaurant, and you know what they say, ''Of course mum, we know, but this is Mum's kitchen, she loves us and will cook us whatever we like''. howzthat ?.
My passion for cooking all started of as a teenager as I loved trying out new dishes, I made my first Ice cream when I was in my year 10, we had to our own new house and we had bought a new fridge-freezer, while I was in year 10, I wasn't living with my parents at that year. Moving back to our own house means new place, finding new friends was very slow, so I used to indulge myself in cooking and creating!, I was so thrilled when I made my first Ice cream using the Mixie,  It had turned out so well.  I used to cook lot of North Indian cuisines, and my sisters friends and my cousins were best guests, Actually, I had kind of become a famous cook, everybody loved having food apart from the authentic food mum always cooked, when I cooked my relatives used to ask me as if I am an expert on how I prepared and the expertise in cooking them. In those days I  used to cook like in restaurant style with no restrictions or compromises with Oil or Coconut and the dish would always turn out perfect.
Now a days, I have become too aware of lot of things I use in my cooking, so I try to avoid lot of them or use them in limited quantities, but when cooking or baking to kids, I try not to be too restrictive as it is the age for them to enjoy eating something unhealthy now and then :).
Coming back to the recipe, definitely not a unhealthy one, I have used brown bread not a white one.
Check out, Kids loved it...
Sorry about the Clicks it is my daughter who has taken the photo, I should buy her a camera, you can't really see the potato slices it is behind the mushrooms :).

POTATO SLICES WITH SAUTEED MUSHROOMS

INGREDIENTS FOR THE POTATO SLICES
I will not be able to give you exact measurements as I just made this in an impulse so please use the ingredients to your taste.

3 Medium Sized Potatoes
1/4 Cup Sun flower seeds
1 onion finely chopped
1 tbsp Coriander leaves
1 tsp finely chopped Green chillies
1/4 cup Grated Cheddar cheese (optional)
1 or 2 tbsp of Corn flour as required (or an Egg if you prefer)
Oil to toast  as required

Variations: Instead of Green chilies use Pepper powder/Chilli powder or you can omit it.
you can even use coriander powder, cumin powder, chat powders just gives it more kick to the recipe.

METHOD:
Using a pestle and mortar crush Sunflower seeds, clean and chop Green chillies and coriander leaves, Chop Onions, Grate Cheese if you prefer to use it.
Next cook the whole potatoes (use firm potatoes such as New potatoes and they don't become mushy when cooked) and Peel the Potato skins then grate the Potatoes using the large holes.
Mix all the above in a big bowl, with required salt (I have asked you to grate potatoes in the end as the potatoes change colour if they come in contact with air).
So, keep everything ready grate the potatoes in the end and mix them all well together.
As you know when you grate potatoes they give out water, So add Corn flour as needed just to give them a binding, and make it into ball.
Now pinch plum sized balls out of it flatten them into a square as I wanted to use it in the sandwich as you can see in the photos.
Put it on a Girdle/tawa/pan with a few spoons of oil (2 to 3 tsp) toast them both sides pressing them until they change colour and become golden brown and well cooked.
Now your Potato slices are ready, they can be consumed just like that or sandwich them between two buttered toasts and serve them with Sauteed Mushrooms.

FOR SAUTEED MUSHROOMS:
I have used Chestnut mushrooms, In a wok, add a knob of butter, if you don't mind eating with stalks to the mushrooms or remove the stalks and saute them until soft, the juices come out, then sprinkle some salt and pepper if preferred or just serve them with toast.
you will really like it :)

Hope you enjoy this as my kids did...
I love to send this to Dish it out ''Mushrooms and Onions'' event - of Kalyani from itsnotmadrasi who is hosting this event started by Zesty palette-Vardhini
I am also sending this to serve it grilled of Kriti's kitchen. and after a long time I am sending this to Hearth and soul 

Missi Roti (Authentic Punjabi Cuisine) - Indian Flat Bread

Hi everybody hope you are doing well, I will not bother you with my moaning again, I know I have not still posted my T and T event :(, hope to do so in the coming week, I have been very busy with lots of things going on at home front, Next week will be last of the school term for the kids, so I might be more free, weather is lousy here raining from past 2 days, Had to clean the garden with weeds growing every where, cleaning up has given me lot of back ache and neck pain. Coming to the post, I have made this roti so many times, my sister had given me this recipe, but had never posted it at all, when I was doing this T and T from Deeba's blog, I stumbled upon this cake recipe which she had made from here, and this she made because of the Secret Recipe Club which she had joined, me curious as always, wrote to them as I fell in love with this Idea of this club, and I was asked to try out from this blog - the Novice House Wife, what a beautiful good looking blog with beautiful recipes, when I searching for the recipes, I felt very homely in her blog, loved the clicks too.., that's when I saw this Missi Roti, as she says its an authentic recipe, and I took it, had this thing in my mind that I need to post it, I decided to do this again and blog about it.

MISSI ROTI (Authentic Punjabi Cuisine) 

As Shumaila says in her own words ‘’Missi roti, pronounced “Miss-ee Row-tee” is a staple in Punjabi homes and is basically roti prepared from besan or gram flour/chickpea flour. Served with a dollop of butter and accompanied with any Indian vegetable or lentil dish, missi rotis are an excellent way of sprucing up the proteins in your diet. Missi Roti can be served for breakfast with curd or pickle. Missi Roti is good for diabetics too because of gram flour added to it as an ingredient. Gram flour is said to keep insulin levels in check!  Missi roti makes you very thirsty, so be prepared to drink a lot of water after eating it!’’

So that’s it now you know a lot about Missi Roti , she says it is traditionally it is made in tandoor but at home, as we do not have tandoor’s we can make it on the tawa(cast Iron Skillet).  She writes about how her mom adores pomegranate seeds and it is the key ingredient for this rotis flavour.   Luckily because of my Pomogranate seed event I have started buying them often and I always have them in stock, I did not miss it in using it in Missi Roti, as I have made earlier a couple of times, couple of things I missed out in this roti were Anardana seeds and chat masala, and the Gram flour kind of upset my tummy, when she wrote that you could change it as you want it, I didn’t mind at all.  So, I made a few changes, when somebody tells me it is healthy I don’t mind trying it at all.  As we all know health nuts like me that it is more nutritious than Naan which is made of plain flour and this one uses Gram flour and Wheat flour, it is high in protein and Iron, what else you need....

Here we go with the recipe then.......

I have changed a little bit as we are 5 people (2 Adults and 3 Teenagers!)

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cups Gram flour/ Chickpea flour(Besan), sifted to remove any lumps
1 Cup of Jowar Flour

3 Cup Whole wheat flour

4 tbsp Fresh Coriander leaves ( about 4 to 5 Sprigs) finely chopped

5 Small Green Chillies, finely chopped

2 Medium sized onions

½ tsp Turmeric powder

1 tbsp Coriander seeds

½ tbsp Cumin seeds

½ tbsp Ajwain seeds

1 ½ tsp of Chat masala

2 tbsp of Anardana seeds

2 tbsp of Kasoori Methi dried

1 tbsp Chilli powder

Salt to taste

Water as Required ( I say as required, because of the Gram flour and Wheat flour might be used from different brands and the water might be less or more if I tell you the right amount, I used around 1 ½ cup, as my Gram flour isn’t like the one I get in India).

Ghee and Butter as required

Rice flour for dusting (she uses Wheat flour for dusting)



METHOD:

First of all In a pan Dry roast cumin, Ajjwain, Coriander seeds, until a nice aroma comes out of them, Using a pesle and mortar, coarsely grind the seeds well enough, crush it not very fine, shall I say fine coarse!

Take a Large bowl, add all the Ingredients except flour, butter and water.

Mix all the Ingredients to together, I left it for a few minutes as the Onions give out water, once mixed with salt,

Meanwhile I sieved both the flours together, then added them to it, and mixed them well together,

Make a whole in the middle and gradually add water, bringing in the mixture together just like a chappati dough, do not make it sticky or not too hard, let it pliable and smooth, so that you can roll it with a rolling pin.

Knead it well enough into a smooth dough, cover it with in a container or with a wet cloth to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile heat the Griddle/Tawa/Flat cast Iron skillet/ Hot Iron plate on a medium high heat.

Then roll them into small balls, Taking one small ball at a time flatten it  with a rolling pin then if you think the dough is slightly sticking on to the pin, immediately dip the round ball into the rice flour,  or dust the flattened dough with rice flour on both sides and start rolling them again into a nice round chappati.

Put this flattened rolled out dough circle on the hot skillet, cook for about few minutes on both the sides, when you can see, brown spots coming up and the dough turning into golden colour, flip it on both the sides to get it evenly cooked, apply butter/ghee on both the sides, until it is lovely golden brown in colour, that means it is done.

Serve it with butter/Ghee and with any Indian side dish, I made a Tomato Chutney it was fabulous.

Thanks Shumaila and Amanda for this wonderful event and loved it very much by everybody at home.
see you soon with an other recipe, do check what others have been doing.

Roasted Garlic Focaccia

Hi everybody, how are you all doing ?, It's been a long time I have been away from my little space, which I love so much but I had been in a...., I don't know blogger's block I think, I just couldn't bring myself to blog anything, my priorities became different and more possessive than my blog was!!,  So, here goes my story, I wanted to come back a week back, but didn't know where to start :), how is that for a start ?, well, if you were in my situation you would also think the same way I was doing, so many drafts and so many back-ups which need to be sorted out, don't know where or how ?, I wrote some of the recipes which I discovered, created, tasted and tried! some I have completely forgotten how ever I did it ! ? :) . So, today I decided I will definitely post something, why not start with my own event of Tried and Tested from Passionate about baking, this I thought I owe to all the lovely ladies who so promptly sent me such lovely entries, Please do forgive me for making you not seeing the round-up till date!, give me an other 2 to 3 days and I will certainly post it ASAP!!, Oh! please I know don't make faces, I do understand, how frustrated you would have felt.

ROASTED GARLIC FOCACCIA

well, let me start with my Tried and Tested recipes from her blog as it is my event and I certainly need to participate right ? so here is my contribution for this event. Of course it is not just the event it is how much I love her blog, for such lovely recipes she presents to us right ?.
I love baking that is why I chose her blog and that too especially Bread, which is my favourite and I love baking Bread, I think it's in my blood, If I get a chance I have lot of things I would like to update my oven so I can bake much more good quality breads and what I always look for in my breads. Love the smell of the bread fresh from the oven even my kids love it when I baking a bread, isn't it great.., well let me stop and get back to the recipe.
This is not the first time I have baked Focaccia, it's just me, love to try breads in every blog I stumble upon!, when Deeba talks about this recipe or should I say all the recipes in her blog she winds you up in her little finger filled with beautiful photographs and the little write up, you get mesmerized and you get connected up, like the two cakes I baked from her blog, I was thinking how my daughter is just like hers or should I say it must be the age of all teenagers!., Oops lost track again didn't I ?, She found this Focaccia recipe from Pease pudding, which was very interesting for her as it did not need any poolish, it is like a starter or mother dough and is also referred to as a preferment or biga., so that's it, it looked beautiful I got hooked :).
A few days back I had made this oil for Focaccia from an other blog, which I will try to post soon enough (!*?), I need to as I made this Olive oil from that blog, and now I permanently use it in most of my bread recipes when I use olive oil. Try it you will love it, as my kids say the bread you bake with that oil takes you to an other world.

HERB FRAGRANT OLIVE OIL
Few sprigs of Rosemary, Basil, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Marjoram, Tarragon, parsley and chives. I had few of them from my garden, few bought it from super-market.
I added 1 cup of Olive oil to these fresh herbs and allowed it to simmer on a low flame, I did not want to boil Olive oil, for 20 to 25 minutes, as you can see in the picture until all the herbs kind of wilted in the oil and when cooled down I filtered it, Now a days I make it often and store it in an oil jar, and use it when ever I want it. Coming back to the recipe of Focaccia

INGREDIENTS:
500 gms of Strong Bread Flour
1 and 1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp Fast action Yeast
500 ml Luke warm Water
2 to 3 pods of roasted Garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Toppings: sliced Garlic 2 to 3 pods, sea salt, few fresh herbs, I used some wine Tomatoes and some olives.

METHOD:
In a large bowl as I always do I poured around 3 to 4 tbsp of luke warm water, to this I added yeast and sugar, and left it for few minutes, just to make sure my yeast is still in working condition!, few minutes later if you see that it is bubbling up that means a thumbs up sign, yeast is active now dump in the flour, salt and 2 to 3 tbsp of Oil and then the water and mix it well together.

When you do this you would notice that it had more water (500ml), it was quite difficult to knead the dough I just started kneading the dough with my plastic spoon, for few minutes then I floured lightly my table top and poured the dough on to it, just dipped my hand in the flour and kneaded it a bit just to ensure that it came together well enough and tried and made it into a ball, oiled my bowl and the dough and sealed it with a cling film and left it some time (depending on the outside temperature) until it doubled in size.
Preheat oven 200 degree centigrade/Gas Mark 6
Once it is doubled in size, Grease the oven dish you are baking in I used my lasagna dish, oiled them very well with olive oil then poured this dough into it, No need to knead it again, then generously pour extra virgin olive oil on the Focaccia, and make multiple wells (or should I say dimples), and then add all the toppings you want, at this stage you can leave it for a second rise for 1/2 an hour or just bake it directly for 20 to 30 minutes, until well risen and golden in colour or prick with a skewer tell you that it is done.
Take it out and allow it to cool then remove and enjoy the flavorful lovely Italian bread.
verdict : It was simply delicious and the kids loved it, and I loved baking it with complete satisfaction :).
c u soon with other two Oh! no three recipes from her blog soon..
take care, Oh! wait want to take an other look at my lovely bread here it is...

sorry for the funny photos that is how my daughter takes them :).
I am sending this to my own Tried and Tasted event started by zlamushka and now taken care of by Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles and Guest hosted by me from Passionate about baking.
I am also sending this to Only series of Pari's guest hosted by Harini of Tamalapaku's Only Baked event.