Bread Machine Recipes: Garlic and Cheese Monkey Bread

I've been eyeing up monkey bread for ages. Traditionally it is a sweet dish made with cinnamon and sugar (and don't get me wrong, I'm dying to make it that way too!) but I thought I'd try a savoury version that I knew Al would like. I mean, who can resist cheese and garlic? I made this for Real Bread Maker Week but have only just had time to upload it.

It was actually pretty easy. After reading the comments on this recipe, I decided to modify the recipe a bit; halved the recipe, added more flour, changed the method slightly. It was tasty and a nice change from the standard garlic baguette from the supermarket. The bread fell apart a bit when I took it from the loaf pan (hence the rebuilt loaf pictures!) but that didn't matter. It meant it was easy to portion our and share.

I think this would be a great recipe for a barbecue or picnic. The bread is easily doubled to serve a crowd and as the bread machine does all the hard work it's really easy.

Ingredients
For the bread
150ml water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
225g flour
1 tsp yeast
2 tbsp strong cheddar, grated
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp dried oregano

For the topping
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tbsp butter, melted
Black pepper, mixed herbs and oregano to taste (around 1 tsp each)
Grated cheddar

Method
Place all of the ingredients for the bread into the bread machine pan and choose the Dough cycle.
Towards the end of the cycle, mix the topping ingredients (except the cheese) together in a bowl. Prepare a 1lb loaf tin by greasing with a little of the topping mixture.
Once the dough is finished, divide into 1 inch balls and dip each ball into the topping mixture before layering in the loaf tin. Sprinkle each layer with some of the cheese and finish the final layer with cheese so that it melts and browns in the oven.
Place the bread into a preheated 180C over and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown on top and cooked through. If it browns too much on the top then cover loosely in foil.
Serve warm.

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30 Days of Food and Drink and National Real Bread Maker Week.

Today marks the start of 2 UK food events.

First, we have 30 Days of Food and Drink which is sponsored by Sainsburys and hosted by the people of 30days.co.uk. It's a celebration of all things food and drink offering a host of competitions, discounts and information about food events all over the country. To find out what's on go here!

Secondly we have National Real Bread Maker Week running between the 1st May and 9th May. This week celebrates the humble bread machine and the estimated 10 million of them gathering dust in people's cupboards across the land. They are even hosting bread machine swaps where you can take your old bread machine and give it to somebody else!

As you know, I love my bread machine and think people should use these marvellous gadgets to make all kinds of things! Look out for some bread machine recipes this week and check out all my bread machine posts here.

Celebrate your bread machine!

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The Parmo Pizza

Remember the epic post about Parmos? Well, I've taken things a step further and recreated another Teesside favourite of ours. This is the Chicken parmo in pizza form and it's truly delicious.
When we were living in Middlesbrough, there was only one take away that we knew of that made parmo pizzas. A place on Linthorpe Road that otherwise wasn't really worth a visit somehow came up with the genius combination of bite size pieces of breaded chicken, an unhealthy amount of grated cheese all atop a pizza base covered with cheese. Beautiful.

These are pretty simple to make really. All you need to do is make some chicken nuggets, one quantity of basic pizza dough in your bread machine and a pint of cheese sauce. you then just assemble everything together and bake in the oven.

Ingredients
For the chicken:
400g diced chicken breast
1 egg, beaten
Generous helping of golden breadcrumbs
Oil for frying

Bash the diced chicken with a rolling pin until flat. Coat in the egg and follow with breadcrumbs. Fry in the preheated oil until crispy and cooked through. Drain on kitchen roll while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

For the white sauce:
14g (1/2 ounce) butter
14g (1/2 ounce) plain flour
1/2 pint milk
Salt and pepper
Generous handful of grated cheese

Place the first three ingredients into a pan and bring up to the boil whisking constantly until smooth and thick. Season to taste and stir in the cheese until melted.

For the pizza dough:
235ml water
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
350g white bread flour
1 tsp yeast

Place the ingredients into the bread machine pan in the order listed and set the machine to "dough." Roll the dough into two medium pizza rounds and place each on a baking tray.

Method
Spread the white sauce over the pizza bases evenly making sure to go close to the edge of the crust. Tear the chicken pieces and spread evenly over the bases. Cover the pizzas with plenty of grated cheese and any extras you may like (herbs, chillies, pepperoni - whatever you can think of) and place in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and saliva inducing. Enjoy.

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Bread Machine Recipes: White rolls

I like rolls much better than sandwiches. There's something about the crusty shell and soft interior of a roll that makes it much more alluring than two slices of bread. They are portable, you get to have one to yourself (not that I'm selfish of course) and they can be filled with any number of delicious fillings.

These rolls are made with white bread flour and the beautiful orangey glaze is from a brush of egg before they are baked. This also makes them beautifully shiny (the sunshine helped with that too of course!). They are easy to make and an excellent project to make with kids. the dough proves nicely in the bread maker then it's upto you how you want to shape them. I stuck with plain rounds rolls as I was making them for dinner but your only limit is your imagination. We always used to make plaits and cottage loaves when I was a kid.

Ingredients
1tsp yeast
500g white bread flour
1tbsp sugar
25g butter
2tbsp milk powder
11/2 tsp salt
300ml water

Method
Place the ingredients into the bread pan of your machine and set on the dough program.
When complete, divide into 10-12 pieces and shape.
Place on a greased baking tray and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
Glaze with beaten egg and bake at 220C for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Eat warm with real butter or allow to cool on a wire rack.

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Bread Machine Recipes: Flatbread

I love flat breads. They make eating some things so much easier! They mop up the juice from a curry, they're an excellent carrier of houmous or baba ghanoush, they hold falafels firmly in place, they can be torn apart and shared. They are perfect for a relaxed dinner with friends. I often make rough roti with flour and water mixed to a dough and then fried in a very hot dry pan but I thought this time I'd try yeasted flat breads. They were a big success.

They had a more complex flavour than our usual flour and water creations and weren't much more difficult to make with the use of a bread machine. They can be a bit tricky to roll as the stretchy dough often takes it upon itself to shrink back but do persevere. They don't have to be perfectly round...mine certainly weren't!

Ingredients
1 cup water
1 tsp celery salt
1tbsp olive oil
3 cups white bread flour
1tsp yeast

Method
Place the ingredients into the bread pan of your machine and set it to the dough program.
When complete transfer to a lightly floured surface and divide into walnut sized pieces.
Roll and stretch each ball into a thin disc (the thinner the better)
Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and when almost smoking hot, place the first disc in the pan to cook for 1-2 minutes on each side. It will puff up beautifully and turn a gorgeous golden brown. Turn the dough carefully with some tongs.
Repeat with the rest of the discs keeping the cooked ones under a clean tea towel and keep warm until the others are cooked.
Serve however you wish!

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Bread Machine Recipes: English Muffins

English muffins are said to date back to the 10th century but became paticularly popular by the 18th century. The Muffin Man rhyme is about exactly this kind of muffin and describes a door-to-door seller of the delicious hot cakes. Am I the only one that would quite like a modern muffin man? Hmm...


Anyway, I had never made muffins before. They always seemed somewhat elusive and slightly complicated but with a bread machine they are so easy. There is a bit of hands on time towards the end but to start with all you need to do is add the ingredients to the bread pan and put it on the Dough setting. Not exactly hard work.

Ingredients
1 cup tepid water
2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
2 tsp honey
3 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/4 cups of white bread flour
1 tsp yeast

Once the machine has finished you knead the dough lightly for a couple of minutes and then roll it out to about half and inch thick. Using a 4" cutter (although mine was 3 7/8" for some obscure reason) cut rounds from the dough. Re-knead, re-roll and re-cut the dough until it is all used up (this recipe made 8 muffins for me). Sprinkle some fine cornmeal onto the muffins (both sides) and allow them to rest for 10 minutes.

Heat up a large heavy based frying pan or skillet (cast iron is meant to be the best but use whatever you have to hand) and cook the muffins at a moderate heat in batches for 7-10 minutes turning once during this time. I felt that our muffins were still a little doughy in the middle so I'd probably cook them at the longer end next time.

You can enjoy these hot from the pan (they were delicious) or allow them to cool on a rack and then split and toast them later (I did that too and they were still delicious). I hope you give these classic treats a try and I will definitely make them again.


This recipe comes from Vicki Smallwood's One hundred Bread Machine Recipes. It's my go-to book for anything from the bread machine and has a wide range of treats. It is available from Amazon.

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Bread Machine Recipes - Stromboli

I've never made stromboli before. I've never even eaten it before but the images I've seen of oozing fillings of cheese and meat wrapped up in a pizza dough and sliced proved too much for me to take. I bought some mozarella for the ooze factor and used up yet more ingredients from the fridge.
First you'll need to make a batch of basic pizza dough. I used 2 cups of white flour and 1 cup of wholemeal this time and it gives a lovely nutty flavour and texture without being over powering. Once the dough cycle us over, you'll need to split it in half. Roll one half into a rectangle and try to keep it as even as possible as it'll make rolling easier later.

You then need to choose your fillings. Basically you can use anything you'd put on a pizza but be aware that veggies tend to give out a lot of moisture and may make the stromboli soggy. I used raw mushrooms in ours and there was a lot of liquid while they were baking. They were still tasty though. I also uses peppered salami, a little ketchup (we had no tomato puree), garlic sausage, mushrooms, mozarella (low fat), dried mixed herbs and some grated cheddar. You want to spread the fillings out so that they're not too piled up and so that there's a border of around an inch all the way around.

I found mixed messages for how to roll stromboli online. The way I found it easiest was to fold one side over the fillings and the roll the dough from the folded edge in the same way you'd roll a swiss roll. You then need to tuck the ends underneath the roll and place it seam side down onto a baking tray (try to use one with a lip as I didn't and now have an oven cleaning mission ahead of me). You then need to do all that again with the other half of the dough.

Make a few slashes in the top of the rolls and brush them with beaten egg. I used milk because I had no eggs but wouldn't do that again. Eggs will give them a lovely crunchy golden top. Bake in a preheated 200C oven for 30-40 minutes and allow to cool slightly before attempting to slice them. You can also slice them when completely cool if you have the patience.

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Bread Machine Recipes: Marmalade Citrus Cake

I've been holding out on you. I made this cake on Sunday and have been meaning to post about it as it was such a success. I would have posted it after I made it but we ended up taking to a friends house (and came back with half a slice) where it was greatly received. We then went out that night and didn't get back until late. Then I was out on Monday and yesterday I was busy with house stuff. There are no excuses left, this has to be posted.

I decided that I'd like to try to make a cake in my bread machine. It's about the only thing I haven't tried (apart from jam but I'm not sure I'd do that in my bread machine as it has no instruction manual!) and I'd found a recipe for a Quick Marmalade Citrus cake in my go to bread machine book One Hundred Bread Machine Recipes by Vicki Smallwood (ISBN: 1856057135).

It was simple but could have been simpler if I'd had a cake setting on my machine. I thought I did but by the time I found that I didn't, it was a bit late. All the ingredients were in the pan and it was ready to go... I have a "bake" setting (sounds like cake) but it doesn't mix so I had to improvise. I mixed it on the Rapido setting and once it was all combined, I switched the machine off and set it to bake. It took and hour and came out beautifully, it was moist and dense and the citrus flavour was lovely. The smell was amazing. Next time, I'll mix everything thoroughly and then put it in the machine, I'll also choose the "light" crust setting as I didn't think to check it (hence the slightly dark exterior).

Here is the recipe that I made (I used grapefruit instead of lime as that's what I had in the house)

Ingredients
6tbsp marmalade
110g (4oz) butter
1 orange
1 lemon
1/2 red grapefruit (you can use any citrus)
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Place butter and marmalade in a saucepan and heat gently until melted (stir occasionally). Set aside to cool.
Finely grate the zest of the citrus fruits into a mixing bowl, add the butter and marmalade mixture and eggs and beat until thoroughly combined. Add the juice of the lemon, half of the orange and grapefruit and beat again. Pour the mixture into the baking pan of your bread machine.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarboinate of soda and add to the baking pan.
Set the program to "CAKE." Check that all ingredients are mixing thoroughly about halfway through the mixing cycle. Once baked, turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

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Bread machine recipes: Home made pizza

We had pizza for tea tonight and it was another success. I really love how easy it is to make pizza from scratch. I used the usual recipe but this time replaced 1/2 cup of white bread flour with wholemeal bread flour. It was delicious. I think next time I might go with a whole cup of wholemeal with 2 cups of white. We'll see.



The pizzas were topped with tomato puree, onion, mushroom, sweetcorn, pepperoni and smoked venison keilbasa sausage from a local european shop. I bought some grated mozarella and cheddar cheese with red pepper and jalapenos in especially for the pizzas and it was lovely (if a bit spicier than I was expecting!) we also added a little extra cheese as there wasn't wuite enough to go 'round. There was plenty of dough for two largeish pizzas. More than enough for two but neither of us had eaten properly today and we polished off the lot.

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Adventures with Bread Machines: Banana and Peanut Butter Bread

Okay, this is the last back-logged bread machine post for now and unfortunately I don't have any pictures. This is the Banana and Peanut Butter Bread from the same book (One Hundred Bread Machine Recipes - Vicki Smallwood) as the last two and the only other one I have tried so far.

I wasn't sure whether to make it in the first place. I had a couple of ripe bananas hanging around and some peanut butter that needed using up and I thought I should find a simple recipe to combine them both. This is a good recipe but I was apprehensive as I was making it. It was a very simple "put-it-all-in-the-pan" type recipe but the smell as it was cooking was somewhat disturbing (a mixture of tea bags and banana skins). I was later informed by a good friend that peanut butter and bananas both smell kind of funky when they're being cooked (but taste pretty good when they're done). I was reassured and let decided to actually taste the finished product.

To be honest, I wasn't too impressed with the bread as it was. I had some while it was still warm and although it was nice, it didn't have a strong banana flavour. The crunchy peanut butter gives it a bit of texture which is really good but the over all flavour was a little disappointing.

This bread really comes into its own when toasted. Oh my gosh it's seriously good. I spread a little butter and honey on my toast for breakfast and it's absolutely delicious. Another good thing about toasting it is that it doesn't matter too much if the bread is a little stale (good for me as I'm the only one eating it).

I don't think I'd make this recipe again but I would like to try another banana bread. It's very important to use very ripe bananas as it gives much more flavour to the final product. Crunchy peanut butter is a delicious addition and makes the whole thing a bit more interesting.

So on with the recipe

Ingredients:
2 bananas
4 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1 cup warmed milk
2 tbsp melted and cooled butter
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups white bread flour
1 tsp active dry yeast

Method:
Mash the bananas with the peanut butter and mix together thoroughly.
Add the other ingredients to the baking pan in the order shown only put the banana mixture in after the salt but before the flour.
Set the machine to "Basic" and let the bread bake.
When the cycle has finished, transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool.

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Adventures with Bread Machines: Pizza Dough

It's time to present my pizza dough experiences. I'd never had much experience of pizza dough. If I was making "home made" pizza then maybe it'd be those plain bases you find in the chiller of the supermarket, I think once I used a box mix with my brother but that's about it.

I honestly wouldn't buy any kind of pizza base now. This recipe is so simple there's no excuse not to make it. I generally have the ingredients to hand anyway so it's not even that I have to plan ahead. Bread machines are so handy to have around.

Again, this recipe is from One Hundred Bread Machine Recipes by Vicki Smallwood (ISBN: 1856057135).

Ingredients:
1 cup tepid water
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cups white bread flour
1 tsp yeast

Method (brace yourself):
Place the ingredients into the bread machine pan in the order listed and set the machine to "dough."
When the cycle has finished, separate the dough into 2 or 4 (depending on how big you want your pizzas - we did 2 medium rectangular ones) and roll to the desired shape and size.
Put the toppings of your choice on top and then cook in the top of the oven for 8-10 minutes.

That's really all there is to it. You can put whatever kind of topping you want on it to make it exactly how you like it. I think I used cooked chicken along with a ton of other things.

The only the problem I really have with this book is that it doesn't tend to give any guide as to how much the recipe actually makes. This made 2 good sized rectangular pizzas which would have been enough for 4 people (I say "would have been" because I think Al and I ate the lot - in my defence I did have 2 goes at it throughout the evening though).

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Adventures with Bread Machines: Focaccia

I got my bread machine a few months ago now. My brother picked one up for me for free from his local Freecycle group. I'd been wanting one for a while but didn't really have any money to spend so a free one was pretty much ideal! The only drawback is that it didn't come with any instructions so there's been a bit of guess work involved.

As I love to experiment, I haven't really had too many issues with working out good, basic recipes for loaves of white or wholemeal bread for everyday use. I've had a few loaves that have sunk/not risen/been a bit weird but I think I've pretty much nailed the basics.

However, general loaves of sandwich bread were just not enough for me. I also got a couple of books with the bread maker with lots of recipes to try.

One Hundred Bread Machine Recipes by Vicki Smallwood (ISBN: 1856057135) is the book that I got the following recipes from. It's a good reference for a range of different recipes from the following chapter headings;

1) Breads and savouries
2) Sweet loaves and cakes
3) Rolls, buns and snacks

There is also a good introduction to the book which includes information about ingredients, equipment, techniques and tips for success. There is also a trouble shooting guide which helps to identify the problem when your bread comes out a bit wrong!

So from this book I have taken the focaccia, pizza dough and banana and peanut butter bread (the last two will be covered later). Trust me, there a loads more that I want to make when I get the chance!

The focaccia was the first recipe that I used as we were having friends over for dinner and I wanted to impress them (without expending too much effort).

Ingredients:
1 cup of tepid water
1 tsp yeast (active dry yeast )
4 tbsp olive oil
3 cups of white bread flour
1 tsp salt

Method:
Pour the water into a large mixing bowl, add the yeast, oil and 1 cup of the flour. Mix together well and cover the bowl with clingfilm then leave it in a warm place for 2-3 hours. (I think I put mine on top of our modem!)

Pur the yeast mixture into the pan of the bread maker and then add the remaining flour and salt. Set the programme to "Dough"

When the machine has finished, transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead briefly. Place it into a shallow baking tray and flatten/stretch it out so that it covers the base. Cover it again with oiled clingfilm and leave it to prove in a warm place until it has double in size. (Mine went onto the back of the hob where the oven had heated up with the lasagne that was cooking - very convenient!)

Preheat the oven to 220°C, brush your finger tips with some extra olive oil and randomly dimple the surface of the dough. Add your toppings of choice (I think we did dried herbs and crushed garlic and some cheese) and bake for 25 minutes. When baked, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

You can buy this book from Amazon

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