ABBRACCI

White biscuit and dark biscuit, wrapped in a tight hug, awaiting their fate to be drowned in a cup of steaming hot and frothy Cappuccino... an Italian's idea of perfect breakfast. These are one of many biscuits of 'Mulino Bianco', and a search for Abbracci took me straight to their website and the original recipe. Quite incredible that they should share their secret so openly, and I could not wait to bake them. Mine were all-butter as I don't like to use Margarine. I saw a different recipe online that suggested to add Italian potato flour as well as '00' flour. Apparently it helps the biscuits to stay better in shape during baking. Mine stayed nicely in shape, the problem was more that they were gobbled up too quickly...  ;-)

SPRING

Finally, Spring is here... it's getting warmer every day, and not a drop of rain in sight :-)

SOURDOUGH PANCAKES

Pancakes... Normally we would make our Austrian version, Palatschinken, 'hauchdünn' (as thin as you can manage), and rolled. But these pancakes are delicious... such pretty little, fluffy things, and a dream with honey, walnuts and sugar... or Nutella... the choice is yours. I can imagine they would be also great with smoked salmon, so maybe next time I will try them without sugar. I googled a couple of recipes and saw that they required the doughs to be prepared and rested over night, which I guess might add to the fluffiness and   

SOURDOUGH BREAD WITH RYE AND SPELT

Our Sourdough adventure began a few weeks ago with the actual Sourdough Starter. The Fabulous Baker Brothers had shown in one of their programs, how easy it is to make a starter from scratch: put flour and water in a pot, stir, feed, and wait for the yeasty magic to happen. I was amazed how easy it all looked, and, several websites and pages of notes later, had what I needed to get started.

The Brussels yeasts happily moved in with us within a couple of days, and after a week I was able to bake our first ever Sourdough bread. It was not perfect, as we did not like the crumbly consistency so much, and there was not enough salt and taste; the second bread I tried had too much molasses that was very overpowering. Apart from that, all breads rose very well, and we ate them to the last crumb. Now I came across this recipe, and to me it 

SPICED LENTIL SOUP WITH CARROTS

This soup is really healthy and can be eaten as part of a Detox diet. At the same time it is very flavoursome, and the cumin and coriander give it a beautiful Indian spice aroma. The recipe is from 'Carol Vorderman's Detox Recipes' book. I only adjusted it slightly, adding a bit less garlic and replaced the salt with vegetable stock. I also made twice the amount this time to avoid that we have to fight over it on the next day :-)

Recipe Source: 'Carol Vorderman's Detox Recipes'

Makes 6-8 portions

3 small onions, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

4 carrots, peeled and cut into thin rounds
300g red lentils

2l vegetable stock

freshly milled black pepper to taste

optional: juice of 1 lemon

Finely dice the onion. Clean the carrots and cut them into thin rounds. Peel and crush the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Sweat the diced onion with a pinch of salt in the olive oil over medium-low heat for app. 10 minutes until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, cumin and coriander and cook for 1 minute until fragrant, stirring continuously. Add the carrots, lentils and the hot stock. Bring everything to a boil, skimming off any scum that appears on the surface. Reduce the heat and simmer for app. 30-35 minutes until the lentils are mushy, giving the soup a nice, thick consistency. Season with black pepper and additional salt if necessary. The recipe says to add lemon juice before serving. I did it for the first time, but find it