Welcome to another week!!!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend; ours was quiet but very enjoyable and I once again spent yesterday in my beautiful kitchen.  Yesterday I decided to try something different and make some bread.  I don't have a lot of experience in bread making so decided on a Streusel Coffee Bread to start with, recipe looks uncomplicated (some breads can be pretty hard to make).  Please note that this Coffee Bread takes about an hour and 40 minutes to make (all inclusive) so don't start making this unless you have the time spare.  Over the coming weeks, I am going to be more adventurous in my bread making, rolls and pastries...... but for now, here goes......

 

Ingredients - Bread

500g Plain Flour
Pinch of Salt
10g Instant Dry Yeast (1 packet)
60 - 75ml Milk
60g Butter or Margarine (4 tablespoons)
150ml Lukewarm Water
125ml White Sugar (1/2 cup)
2 Large Eggs, beaten

Streusel Mixture

125ml Brown Sugar (1/2 cup)
60ml Plain Flour
10ml Ground Cinnamon (2 teaspoons)
45g Butter, melted (3 tablespoons)
40g Pecan nuts (chopped) - optional


Method

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.  Add the dry yeast.
2. Warm the milk slightly and stir in the butter till it melts.  Mix in the water, sugar and beaten eggs.
3. Make a well in the centre of a dry ingredients.  Pour in enough of the liquid ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon so that the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.  Knead the dough well till it becomes smooth and elastic.
4. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, cover with greased plastic wrap and leave to rest for 20 minutes.
5. Prepare the Streusel Mixture by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
6. Knock the dough down and divide it into two equal pieces.  Press one piece down into the bottom of a greased 20cm pan.
7. Sprinkle half the Streusel mixture over this layer of dough.
8. Roll the remaining piece into a long sausage shape (very long).  Working on top of the Streusel mixture and from the centre of the pan, form a spiral shape by wrapping the sausage around itself.  Press down well to cover the Streusel mixture.
9. Sprinkle the remaining Streusel Mixture on top of the spiral.
10. Cover with greased plastic and allow to rise in a warm place until double in volume, about 30 minutes.
11. Bake in a preheated oven at 200ºC for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
12. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing and allowing to cool completely.

Make a cuppa and enjoy a slice...... The comments I've received have been great, it is a bit dry but then again it is not a cake but bread.  However, it does not leave you with that doughy taste (I find this sometimes after eating a "heavy" bread) yet it has that lovely dough like taste. 


Tips - Please note that I used chopped mixed nuts as I did not have any pecan nuts and I did not roll the top dough into a sausage shape and twirl ~ I was running out of time so I shaped the top piece of dough into a round circle and pressed it on top of the Streusel mixture....


Note ~ We are off visiting friends in Inverness this coming weekend so sadly there won't be any experiences coming from my kitchen.  But fear not, I will be back in my kitchen on Sunday 24th Feb .........

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, just can't believe how quickly time flies and before you know it, it's Monday again......

For my baking weekend, I decided to try something a little different, I made an Orange and Coconut Cake, topped with frosting and toasted coconut = yum!  Originally I thought it may not work, I would never have put orange and coconut together (even in a shampoo!) but it works quite well.  I did find the cake to be drier than most so you may want to increase the amount of frosting you use between the cake slices but I am also thinking that maybe next time I'll add a touch more orange juice just to give it a little more moisture.

I must apologise for the quality of the photos of my cakes, I need to come up with clearer way to take my photos but for now........

Ingredients:

450g Self Raising Flour
Pinch of Salt
200g Soft Brown Sugar
100g Desiccated (Shredded) Coconut
200g Soft Butter
2 Medium Eggs
90 ml Milk
2 Medium size Oranges (juice and grated rind)

Toasted coconut (on a baking tray, sprinkle a covering of coconut and lightly toast under the grill.  Watch this carefully as it tends to toast quickly).

Method:

1. Preheat your oven on 180ºC and grease two 20cm tins.  You may line them with greaseproof baking paper if you want but not necessary.
2. Sieve the self raising flour and salt into large mixing bowl. 
3. Add the sugar and coconut.  Rub in the butter till you have a bowl of fine breadcrumbs.
4. Make a hole in the centre and add the lightly beaten eggs, milk, juice and rind.  Mix well till fully combined.  Mixture is quite heavy and dense.
5. Split between the two tins and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour (till golden brown).  Always check the cake by inserting a skewer.
6. Leave to cool down a bit in tins (5 minutes), then remove and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting

250 g cream cheese

60 g unsalted butter, soft

200 g icing sugar

Beat the above ingredients together until creamy and spread half the frosting on the bottom half of the cake. Place the other half of the cake on top and using the balance of the frosting, ice the top of the cake, leaving the sides open.  Complete the cake by sprinkling the toasted coconut onto the frosting. 

To be enjoyed with a cuppa tea........

 Tip ~ you can add a little orange flavouring to your frosting to enhance the flavour of the orange in your cake.