No Knead, No Problem! My go-to bread for lazy days

No-Knead Bread

This bread is literally the easiest bread out there.  No snazzy yeast, no finicky sourdough starter, just some baking soda, baking powder, and buttermilk to get this dense and delicious loaf ready for your plate!

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Easy No-Knead Bread

Makes 1 loaf

2 cups all-purpose flour
2–2 ½ cups spelt or whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ¾–2 ¼ cups buttermilk, plus a little for brushing
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons runny honey
¼ cup pumpkin seeds

Preheat your oven to 425F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat or spelt flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.  Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in 1 ¾ cups of the buttermilk followed by the melted butter and honey.  Using a wooden spoon, stir until all of the liquid has been evenly mixed in.  If needed, feel free to add some of the remaining buttermilk to make the dough come together.

Once the dough is too stiff to stir with the spoon, lightly flour a work surface and turn the dough out onto it.  Gently knead the dough to form it into a rough loaf but be careful not to overwork it.

Transfer the dough to the parchment lined baking sheet and, using a large knife, score an ‘X’ across the top making sure to cut about halfway down.  Use a pastry brush to paint a thin layer of buttermilk all over the top of the loaf and scatter the top with pumpkin seeds.

Bake the bread in your preheated oven for 25 minutes then reduce the heat on your oven to 350F and continue to bake for an additional 20–25 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when you rap on the top with your knuckles.

Transfer your loaf to a wire rack and allow it to cool.

Starch on starch on starch: Potato Thyme and Cheddar Focaccia

Potato Thyme and Cheddar Focaccia

We Bergs are firmly a starch family.  

No dinner is complete without potatoes, rice, noodles, or some sort of doughy delicious bread.  I mean, sure, it's February and I'm trying really hard to dig into healthy veg filled plates to counteract the winter slumps but, come ON!

Starch is the best!

It's on days like this, days that I am sliding down the slippery slope of fading New Year's resolutions, that I like to overindulge in the stuff and really double down so I give you Potato Thyme and Cheddar Focaccia.

I mean, Potatoes + Bread = Unbridled Joy in my books and the multipliers of cheese and thyme are kind of a no brainer.

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Potato Thyme and Cheddar Focaccia

Makes 1 - 9x13" loaf

¾ cup + 2 tbsp warm water
1 slightly rounded teaspoon quick rise yeast
1 ½ teaspoon sugar
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting
1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 cup finely grated white cheddar cheese
1 small Yukon Gold potato, very thinly sliced
1 tablespoon picked fresh thyme
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, for top of loaf

In a glass measuring cup, combine the water, yeast, and sugar and set aside in a warm place for approximately 15 minutes to activate the yeast.  

In a large bowl, stir together the flour and kosher salt and make a well in the middle.  Once the yeast mixture is nice and foamy, pour it into the well along with a ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil and begin mixing the dough with a wooden spoon to combine.

Once combined, dump the shaggy dough mixture onto a well floured work surface and begin kneading for approximately 6 – 8 minutes.

Shape the dough into a tight skinned ball and place into a well oiled bowl.  Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

While rising, coat a 9x13 baking pan in remaining 3 tablespoons of the remaining of extra virgin olive oil and set out your grated cheese.  In a small bowl, toss together the thinly sliced potato and thyme with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and set aside.

Once risen, press the dough into the pan, making sure to poke your fingers all the way through to the bottom of the pan while you stretch the dough.  Cover the formed focaccia with your clean kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for another 45 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 425F and scatter the cheese evenly over the dough.  Arrange the potatoes overtop and sprinkle with pepper and coarse sea salt.  Bake the focaccia in your preheated oven for 18–25 minutes or until golden and the potatoes are soft and beginning to brown.

Remove the focaccia from the oven and let cool slightly before digging in.

Puppies and Kitties and Cupcakes! Oh my!

Classic Chocolate Cupcakes

If you had of asked me a month ago if there was a way to make cupcakes even sweeter and more perfectly wonderful than they already are, I would have scoffed, shaken my head, and said attempted to utter the word “naaaahhh” through a giant mouthful of fluffy cake and rich, silky buttercream.

But boy, oh boy, was I ever wrong!  This year, I am so honoured to have been asked by the Ontario SPCA to be their champion for National Cupcake Day™!  Now in its sixth year, the nation-wide annual campaign runs throughout January and February, culminating on Monday, February 26 – the sweetest day of the year! 

In 2017, animal lovers across Canada raised over $600,000 in support of their local animal welfare societies and, this year, I’m hoping to help them surpass that number and add to the outstanding $2.45 million raised to date!

To get involved and “bake a difference,” visit www.nationalcupcakeday.ca to register to host a Cupcake Day Party on a date that’s convenient for you.  Plan your National Cupcake Day™ Party for home, work, school or anywhere you think people would enjoy eating cupcakes (so, literally anywhere!).

Invite your guests to donate through www.nationalcupcakeday.ca to help raise critically-needed funds for animals that are abused, abandoned, neglected or no longer wanted.  Proceeds from National Cupcake Day™ help the Ontario SPCA support our furry friends, big and small, who have been abused, abandoned, or are in need of help.

If you're in need of a little cupcake-y inspiration, give these little babies a try!  They are super chocolatey, rich, crazy simple, and oh-so perfect for any and all cupcake and kitty/puppy lovers!

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Classic Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 24 large cupcakes (or 36 regular)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups good quality cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon espresso powder
2 cups buttermilk

Preheat your oven to 350F and line two or three 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Give it a bit of a stir to combine and set aside.

Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the sugar and oil together for 1 minute.  Add the eggs in one at time, beating well after each addition and continuing to beat for 2 minutes or until the mixture looks a little lighter in colour.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the vanilla extract and espresso powder.  Add that to the buttermilk and set aside.

When the oil and sugar mixture is nicely creamed, add approximately a third of the dry ingredients and beat together until almost combined.  Add in half of the buttermilk mixture and, again, beat just until almost combined.  Continue with this wet/dry method, ending with the last third of the dry ingredients.  Be careful not to over mix after the last addition!  Over mixing will lead to peaked and potentially cracked cupcakes!

Scoop about ¼ cup of batter into each little cupcake liner and bake until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean, about 20–25 minutes.  While cooling, whip up a batch of chocolate buttercream and get ready to decorate to your heart's content!

Chocolate Buttercream

1 ½ cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup good quality cocoa powder
5 cups icing sugar
½–¾ cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon espresso powder
½­­–1 teaspoon kosher salt

Beat together the butter and cocoa powder and gradually add in the icing sugar.  The mixture will be a little crumbly but that’s where the whipping cream comes in!  With the mixer running, slowly stream in the whipping cream, starting with ½ cup then increasing to ¾ cup if necessary.

In a small bowl, combine the vanilla extract with the espresso powder and add it to the buttercream mixture.  Beat in the salt and use immediately.

It's January soo... Doughnuts

Vanilla Glaze Cake Doughnuts

January can pretty much be summed up in one word: blah.  

It's the month when Mopey Mary rears her ugly head to make every day feel drawn out, dull, and dreary.  The holidays are over, the glow of the new year has started to fade, and all I really have to look forward to are the short, chilly days of winter.  Every year I tell myself to plan a holiday for mid-January but, instead, I spend my days drudging through work and my evenings lazing about on the couch watching mainly murder shows because, well, murder shows are pretty great and why the heck not?
(ps how am I only watching Fargo now?!)

In my mind, there is only one thing that can help spurn that grumpy gal to the sidelines and that is doughnuts.  Sure, any sweet would do and I sure have had my fair share of chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, and brownies these past two and a half weeks but doughnuts!  Oh baby, doughnuts are the answer to my forlorn prayers!

Draped with a Simpsons-esque pink glaze and scattered with a few little sprinkles, nothing brings a smile to my face and a spring to my step quite like a classic vanilla dip!  As I tend to be a bit lazy this time of year, these little puppies are a classic cake doughnut rather than a yeast risen because when I want doughnuts, I don't want to have to wait on yeast!

So, what are you waiting for?  Banish those January blues and get to frying!

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Vanilla Cake Doughnuts

Makes 12 doughnuts and 12 doughnut holes

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla.  Pour this wet mixture into the well and mix just until a soft dough forms.  Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge and heat about 2 inches of vegetable oil in a large, deep pot over medium heat until a thermometer registers at 350F.  On a generously floured work surface, roll out your chilled dough to a ½ inch thickness and, using a 3-inch round cutter, cut out as many rounds as possible.  Using a 1-inch round cutter, remove the very centre of each circle, giving you doughnuts and doughnut holes! 

Feel free to bring the remaining dough together to reroll and cut out more doughnuts but only do this once as rerolling the dough a third time might make the doughnuts a bit tough.

Before frying, prepare a draining station for your doughnuts by lining a cookie sheet with paper towel and a cooling rack.

Now, it’s time to fry!  Gently lower four or five doughnuts into the hot oil and cook, flipping once, until all the doughnuts are golden brown and lovely.  Remove the cooked doughnuts to the rack-lined cookie sheet and continue to fry until all of your doughnuts and doughnut holes are done.

When cooled, dunk each doughnut and doughnut hole in classic vanilla or chocolate glaze and leave to set for at least 30 minutes.

Classic Vanilla Dip Glaze

1 ¾ cups icing sugar
2–3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8–12 drops red food colouring
Sprinkles, for decorating

In a small bowl, whisk together the icing sugar, milk, vanilla, and food colouring until smooth.  Dunk your doughnuts into the glaze followed immediately by a scattering of sprinkles and allow the doughnuts to set up for at least 30 minutes.