Bread – ohdenny

Baguette & Cie – Quebec City Series

September 26, 2014 Posted in Canadian, Food Reviews, French, Quebec City, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

We came across Baguette & Cie along our way back to the hotel on our last day in Quebec City. It was absolutely freezing that day, wind chill and even flurries. As we were a little bit famished we saw this cozy looking bakery, what actually attracted us to this place other than it being conveniently just minutes away from our hotel was that it sold hot soup. Soup on a blistering cold day is all you would ever want and is it ever so satisfying.

Their Clam Chowder is creamy and yet still smooth to the taste and has a lovely aroma to it. Flavour-wise it’s delicate balance of ingredients makes it the perfect winters meal. The only thing I guess I would have liked is if the bread was toasted/warmed just a tad.

If you’re looking for something a bit lighter, the Vegetable Soup also has amazing flavours. The chunky vegetables make it a pretty satisfying meal or snack (if you prefer).

Impressions

Baguette & Cie not only serve soup but of course bread as well and in addition they offer muffins and pastries, hot drinks, sandwiches and desserts plus their apparently renowned chilli! I’d definitely recommend stopping by.

Baguette & Cie
217 rue Saint-Paul
Quebec QC G1K9K9

Malted Walnut Seed Bread

July 11, 2014 Posted in Baking, RecipesLeave a comment

Kneading bread or dough is very relaxing for me so I was very happy to try out this recipe from BBC GoodFood which looked very simple to make (Spoiler alert: it was) and yet so appealing with its use of wholemeal flour and mixed seeds to give it a bit of a bite inside. The smell of freshly baked bread is just simply amazing for breakfast, take a look at the recipe below.

Malted Walnut Seed Loaf (Classic White Loaf Recipe)

Ingredients

500g strong wholemeal flour
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
2 tsp bread improver (Optional)
1 tsp salt
up to 350ml warm water
100g mixed seeds (I used a mix of pepitas, sunflower seeds and pine nuts)
50g walnut pieces
a little sunflower oil, for greasing

Method

1. Make the dough with the flour, yeast, salt (and bread improved if wanted) by tipping the flour, yeast and salt into a large bowl and making a well in the middle.

2. Pour in most of the water and use your fingers or a wooden spoon to mix the flour and water together until combined to a slightly wet, pillowy, workable dough (add a splash more water if necessary)

3. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and start adding most of the seeds and all the walnuts as you knead. Knead for at least 10 mins until smooth and elastic (Can also be done in a tabletop mixer with a dough hook but why skip all that fun)

4. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise until doubled in size.

5. Knock back the dough by tipping it back onto a floured surface and pushing the air out. Shape the dough into a large round and roll the round in the remaining seeds, then lift the bread into a tray to prove for about 30 mins until doubled in size. (I left mine overnight to bake fresh in the morning)

6. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Bake the bread for 15 mins, then reduce the heat to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5 and continue to bake for 30 mins until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Leave the bread on a cooling rack to cool completely.

The loaf will stay fresh in an airtight container for 3 days or can be frozen for 1 month.

Impressions

This bread was very easy to make, with just a small amount of waiting time for it to rise. The bread comes out soft inside but still crunchy with the pine nuts, pepitas and sunflower seeds. The fresh crust was also stunning and if you prefer the slices to be a bit more crunchy, just lightly toast it and then butter it and that’s basically all you need for a fantastic slice of bread. One word. Yum.

Tanner’s Swiss Patisserie

September 27, 2013 Posted in Bakery, Desserts, European, Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, Restaurant Reviews, SwissLeave a comment

I discovered Tanner’s Swiss Patisserie whilst heading for lunch on Blackburn Road. Apparently Tanner’s has been there for decades, and it has this lovely wooden cabin exterior which is so visibly different from the shops around it that you’ll be instantly drawn to it. It’s a small shop but never quiet. The Patisserie sells cakes, tarts, pastries and bread and of course coffee.

Their mini pastries, cakes, and tarts looked delightful so we had to try a few. The pastry pictured above is filled with Hazelnut cream. I’m not quite sure of the advertised name but we bought this because she mentioned hazelnut. Its like a light cookie crumb with a layer of hazelnut cream inside. I found it very sweet overall, and a bit lacking in hazelnut flavour to be honest. It looked fantastic though.

Tanner’s Pecan Pie is as it looks, rich but definitely oozing in flavour.The pecans are still crunchy, with a dark and rich sweet hardened filling. Even though it’s sweet, I found it to be more well rounded in its flavour. The pastry is nice, short and crispy. With a lovely butter texture to it. A real treat.

Their Linzertorte, which is basically a jam filled cinnamon and clove flavoured butter pastry. The tart is perfect, again short, crispy with that rich buttery taste. The ground cinnamon and cloves give the pastry an extra kick and usually with Linzertorte, the pastry is also made with ground almonds that give it a softer texture than most shortcrust pastries. I find that the jams or berry preserves used in Linzertortes to be overly sweet and the ratio between pastry and jam leans too far in the favour of the jam. A very thin layer is all that’s needed in my humble opinion, or a reduction in sweetness in the jam but I think that’s the more difficult option to produce since a lot of sugar is required to give it that texture and consistently.

Tanner’s Apricot Almond Tart is also very tasty. The pastry again is top notch, buttery and crisp. The tart is glazed with sugar to give it that glistening shine. Using ground almonds gives the tart a moist texture to it and definitely one of the better tarts I’ve tasted.

Impressions

Tanner’s Swiss Patisserie has wonderful pastries and tarts but like most patisseries their sweet delights are a tad too sweet for my liking. A small bite is all I need to be satisfied and these little tarts will do that just fine.

Tanner’s Swiss Patisserie

232 Blackburn Road
Glen Waverley VIC 3150

Casey-Berwick Farmers’ Market

May 7, 2011 Posted in Attractions, Berwick, FoodLeave a comment

On every fourth Saturday of the month, the Casey Farmers’ Association (Berwick Rotary Club) hold their monthly Farmers’ Market for Casey residents and well anybody that wants to support local farmers’, grocers and the local community in general.
It’s also a place to get fresh food and produce or just to try the different foods on offer.

It’s located in Berwick at the Old Cheese Factory, and with many merchants and things to try while you’re there and even though we arrived at around 9am, it was surprisingly busy already.

It costs a few dollars to enter but supporting the Farmers’ in your area, it’s nothing to complain about.

At the front, near the car park, they sell large quantities of fruit and once you enter there are a variety of berries on offer too.

On the left of this image, they sell a variety of breads from sour bread to wholemeal. It’s all reasonably priced too.

The merchants on the left sell fresh seafood, while the one on the right sells a great selection of wines.

Homemade sauces are sold here, quick a few might I add.

Fresh garlic from Dannic Garlic. Chemical free, and grown on the Mornington Peninsula.

Quite a wide selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, all packed to store in their freshness, straight from the back of their van. Hehe

Our second purchase of the morning, the first being some nice sourdough bread, was Spicy Venison sausages. We cooked them at home, it’s quite lean and with a hint of spice. It wasn’t too bad actually, might try their other Venison cuts next time.

Mornington Peninsula Ice cream, it looked really nice but wasn’t in the mood for it. Looking back, I would have gotten a tub.

More fresh food, if you look closely you can see the prices. It’s probably more than you’d pay at your local supermarket but I feel the money goes straight to the farmers and not split between farmers and the conglomerate.

The smell of sausages in the morning is quite an appealing thing. So by the smell we were lead to the Alloway Buffalo stall and just had to purchase a roll.

Here it is, in all it’s glory. Buffalo meat. A buffalo hot dog with a really tasty sauce. It had a hint of spice and was just nicely cooked, as was the sausage.

There were also quite a few meat sellers, and places to buy fresh juices and drinks too.

Check it out, it’s quite a nice experience. Or check out your local Farmers’ market instead, it’s worth it.

Casey-Berwick Farmers’ Market

8am to 12.30pm

The Old Cheese Factory

34 Homestead Rd

Berwick

Victoria

(The next one in May is on the 28th, June on the 25th)