Hopefully a focaccia?

Wrestling dough, a simple blueberry muffin recipe and ‘The Plan’

It’s only been a couple of days - but if you caught my post on Friday (this one), you’ll know that this week has been a rollercoaster of positive emotions. Admittedly, not a lot happened in my kitchen yesterday - but as I settle in with a hot mug of tea to write this post, there is a focaccia hopefully baking in the oven.

Photo of Hiro as he’s seem to have captured the hearts of quite a few readers already!

Hopefully - because I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think the dough was too wet. Or that I wasn’t asking out loud “are those lumps supposed to look like that?”. Trust the process, I convinced myself - and after 5 sticky rounds wrestling with said wet dough, in it went. Hopefully waiting to come out as something resembling a focaccia. For me, two hours. For you… however long it takes you to read to the end of the post!

Before we move on - if you would like to recommend any recipes that you think would be good for a beginner to tackle, please feel free to leave a comment.

I wanted to end the week having made something I know would be edible, so I opted for a bake that I’ve attempted a few times now: blueberry muffins.

This is a quick and easy recipe that uses vegetable oil instead of butter. I’m still working on my butter melting skills - don’t laugh, it’s not as easy as you’d think for a novice! Or I should say, a novice that is very OCD about measurements and temperatures and even bought a food thermometer just to make sure that the water for today’s focaccia was between 36-38C… Let’s move on.

An Easy, Simple Blueberry Muffins with Vegetable Oil

Ingredients:

• 250g (2 cups) all-purpose flour

• 150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 80ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil

• 1 large egg

• 120ml (1/2 cup) milk

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 200g (1 cup) blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Instructions:

1. Preheat Oven: Set your fan oven to 170°C (190°C for a conventional oven).

2. Prepare Muffin Pan: Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease the cups with a bit of oil.

3. Mix Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.

4. Combine Wet Ingredients: In a measuring jug, measure the oil. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla extract, and beat until well combined.

5. Combine Wet and Dry: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula until just combined. It’s important not to overmix; the batter should be a bit lumpy.

6. Add Blueberries: Gently fold in the blueberries, being careful not to crush them if they are fresh.

7. Fill Muffin Cups: Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full.

8. Bake: Place in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

9. Cool: Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

These blueberry muffins are quick to make and perfect for a light, fruity snack. Enjoy them fresh out of the oven or as a tasty treat any time of the day! Let me know if you give this recipe a go - I’d love to see how yours turned out.

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The Plan

To make sure that I’m learning more each week, I’ll be attempting and sharing at least 3 recipes I’ve found from different media sources: one from a real life physical cook book, one from social media (I spend far too long scrolling through Instagram and saving recipes) and one that I’ve found (or been given) via the Substack community.

This should give me great exposure to different genres, mentors and recipe styles - helping me find my feet in the kitchen as the weeks go on. And who knows, perhaps we’ll venture into the garden to grow something of our very own to cook!

Mark Diacono

introduced me to the wonderful

Debora Robertson 🦀

during one of his Gatherings last week. I was so captivated by Debora’s story that I had bought her book ‘Notes from a Small Kitchen Island’ before the session had even finished. I’m sure it’s above my skill level, but the leek and ham hock steamed pudding looks utterly delicious. I will most definitely be attempting this one next week.

You can dip it in oil and balsamic vinegar… so I call this a success!

The results are in… and I think we can call this one a success! Okay, okay - it’s not the prettiest and there was definitely a slight issue of it sticking to the pan (which I’m not sure how, as I most definitely used too much oil). But you can dip it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar whilst enjoying a nice big glass of red wine - and that sounds like a win for a Sunday evening to me.

The Simple-even-for-Mark Focaccia

Ingredients:

• 500ml warm water

• 2 tsp instant dry yeast

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 550g all purpose flour

• 1 tbsp coarse sea salt

Instructions:

1. Add the warm water, instant dry yeast, sugar, 1 tablespoon olive oil, flour and salt to the bowl of a Stand Mixer fitted with the Dough Hook. Mix on speed 2 until a wet and sticky dough forms.

2. Cover the bowl with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes in a warm place. Wet your hands and make a set of 4 folds, rotating the bowl 90° between each fold. Cover with a tea towel and let rest for 10 minutes. Repeat this folding step 3 more times.

3. Coat the dough with oil, cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel. Let the it rest for at least 1,5 hours until doubled in size and air bubbles have formed on the surface.

4. Cover a baking pan with oil. Shake the bowl back and forth until the dough opens its bubbles and flip it into the baking tin. Gently spread the dough into the corners. Let rest for another 30 minutes. Combine the remaining olive oil, garlic and Parmesan. Drizzle the top of the dough with olive oil and use your fingers to create dimples in the dough.

5. Bake for 30 minutes in a 210°C Fan preheated oven. Take the bread out of the tin and let rest on a wire rack.

Crispy on the outside, fluffy and olive oil soaked on the inside. So simple, even I could make it! I’m looking forward to trying this recipe again as I think I’m almost there with it.

A final thought: it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with doubt when trying something new. But having a little faith and allowing yourself to trust in the process will usually lead you in the right direction.

And with that, I’m off to enjoy it with a nice big glass of red wine. A big thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you’ll join me again for the next one. Cheers, everyone!

-Mark

Disclaimer: Dawn (my AI kitchen helper) was on holiday today. No questions were asked.