Saturday Baking

Saturday is a busy time in the kitchen, mainly because once the oven is on I have time to throw a few other things in too. Today I made a simple roll (these simple breads just keep on coming) based on pizza dough and popular in Italian bakeries on Saturdays due to their good shelf-life; they'll still taste fresh on Sundays when the bakeries are closed. For this reason, and because I made up the recipe myself before my wife informed me of this fact, I shall call it Saturday Bread and shall not provide an overnight recipe; you can adapt it yourself if necessary. To make the knotted rolls when shaping the dough, just roll out a piece of dough into a sausage shape about 30cm long and tie into a knot, as it proves it will fill out into a roll.



While I had the oven on I thought I would also do a simple vanilla sponge cake, especially as I had brought some vanilla essence back from Zanzibar the like of which I had never smelt before. As it turned out I could have used a little more vanilla, but filled with strawberry jam the cake itself was nice enough.





This evening I also provided pizzas for a few friends. I have included a photo here due to popular demand (Frutti di Mare, or seafood to you and me) and I shall also provide a link to the recipe as I have finally managed to write one rather than just keeping it in my head. Notes on the details of cooking and handling pizza can be found here.

So a busy day in the kitchen for the baker, but the products were well worth the small amount of effort involved!

Bake big.