Spinach Sandwich Bread step by step recipe

Hello September! The season I like the least... But who knows?! Maybe this year it appears to be the second summer. I have decided to cleam my to-do list and post the recipe you were most interested in. So many questions I have got on my Instagram account about this one.... And it is definitely worth it!

This year I was lucky to visit Le Cordon Bleu short courses to learn among all the rest how to bake my own bread. Apart from the other recipes we were making a spinach sandwich bread which looks so good that you just can't stand :) Very aromatic, spinach green and so fluffy you will definitely like it. Let's go!!!


Ingredients:
135 g  flour (I use spelt flour)
80g fresh spinach
2,75 g salt
5,5 g sugar
5,5 g fresh (compressed) yeast
17 g butter
15 ml  water room temperature 

additionally for decorating:
softened butter for the mould
1 egg yolk for brushing
seeds, sesam (*optional)


Get all the ingredients ready and weighted. Wash the spinach leaves and drain then well so that the liquid is gone.

Place all the ingredients except butter and water into a bowl of a blender. Mix them well adding water little by little.

 The dough should get smooth, have nice green colour and be sticky.

 Then transfer the dough into a bowl of the stand mixer with a dough hook. I adopted this recipe to non-professional kitchen equipment, because my stand mixer for example is not that powerful to combine spinach with flour into a dough.

In a stand mixer using a dough hook mix the dough on a higher speed and add butter. Mix until well combined. The dough has to be about  25 degrees Celcius. Mine was 26, so I left it a bit longer to cool down.

 Cover the bowl with a plastic film and leave for 45 minutes to rest.

 Form a ball and let it rest for 20 minutes.

 Shape the dougn into a long form like shown in the pictures below. At first, make a flat oval out of it, then flip one side towards you.

 After that flip the opposite side over it and stick well together.

 Then form a long form bread.

Put it into the form and brush with some egg yolk. If you want you can sprinkle some seeds on top of it. Or just leave it as it is. Or my version: take the scissors and bruch them in egg yolk a bit. Then make small cuts in the dough in each side lengthwise. Prove for 1 hour at room temperature.

 Bake at 145 degrees for about 30 minutes.

 Enjoy your colorful bread when it cools down! And don't forget to smell it! So lovely!!!!!

From home-made to gourmet!

#gourmetbalance

Wholewheat Fig Pie with Almonds and Poppy Seeds

Autumn is almost gone and I just realized how quickly the time passes by...Only couple of weeks ago I was enjoying visiting my parents and here we are in November: Christmas markets are already being built all over Hamburg.... Nice times with hot wine and baked chestnuts have come. And as my oven was not working properly for some time you can imagine how happy I am now with the new one. Finally baking!!!! This time I wanted to bake something appropriate as a TO-GO Breakfast as well because it is getting harder and harder to wake up in the morning earlier in order to prepare it.  And I knew where to look for such recipe. "Super Food" can help. You probably remember how happy I was cooking this healthy breakfast by Jamie Oliver or baking a wonderful banana bread. For the latter I did not have figs and almonds that time so I chose dates and walnuts. But this time I tried to follow the recipe. I did my best. Although no the Best Best :) Well, you know me :) 

Ingredients:

yields 1 round loaf of bread 24 cm in diameter or heart shaped in my case :)

adopted from Everyday Super Food by J.Oliver

250 g dried figs

100 g wholemeal spelt flour

50 g wholemeal buckwheat flour

4 tbsp grape seed oil

5 tbsp Bulgaria yogurt

2 tbsp sesame

2 large eggs

3 ripe bananas

1/3 tsp vanilla paste

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

100 g ground poppy seeds

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 apple

50 g whole almonds

For the recipe scroll down....... 

When I prepare my breakfast I find it very important to balance energy and protein intake reducing sugar as much as possible. At least not to pack my breakfast with added sugar. Fruits and healthy fats in moderation are welcomed. Hence this recipe took my attention: no added sugar, wholewheat flour, protein from nuts and poppy seeds, healthy fats and natural sweetness. Therefore it serves a perfect snack to-go, breakfast or dessert. I personally had a wonderful breakfast today.... Yummy!!!

First of all preheat the oven to 180 °C. Line a 24 cm round ovenproof form with baking paper.Or just simply take a silicon form if you have one. Wash the figs and place 200g of them in a food processor together with eggs, peeled bananas, oil, yogurt and vanilla seeds. Blitz until smooth. Then add both flour types with baking powder, ground poppy seeds and turmeric. Pulse until combined with the rest of the dough.

Grate the apple and mix it in. Pour the mixture into the form and spread evenly. Cut the remaining figs into pieces and decorate the bread with them, pushing them a bit. Then place whole almonds all over the top. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden, cooked through and as inserted skewer comes out clean. Let it cool a little.

And here you go. It can be served with clotted cream (as my husband prefers) or peanut butter / yogurt or just eaten as it is because the texture it moisture and smooth with pieces of crispy fig parts.

Breakfast Idea: Pumpkin Pancakes

About a month ago I posted on my Instagram these wonderful pumpkin pancakes and promised to come back with the recipe. And here I am, took me a bit longer but better later than never, right? So finally sharing this tasty recipe with you. By the way, I found it in one of my favourite blogs of a Ukrainian girl living in the USA -  Mom Story. As usually I can not just simply follow the rules. So instead of orange sauce proposed in the original recipe I have made a chocolate one. Just did not have oranges in house...:) White sugar I substituted by black Demerara, white flour - by wholewheat buckwheat. No matter what version you choose, you will be very happy with the result.

Ingredients:

yields 15 pancakes

cup=240 ml

1 egg

3 tbsp sugar

2 cups milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1,5 cup flour (I used wholewheat buckwheat flour)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 ripe banana

blueberries

Whisk egg with sugar. Add milk and mix well. Rub pumpkin puree through a sieve and add it into the milk mixture. Fold until smooth, add cinnamon.

Mix flour with baking powder and sift into the batter. It whould be quite thick when everything combined. Pour 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. 

Heat non stick pan (I used a small sauce pan for even round shape). Do not add any additional oil. Onto a dry pan pour scoop of batter in the middle. Wait for about 2 minutes and when you notice bubbles on top of the pancake it is just time to flip over. On the other side 30 seconds is enough. Do mot oil the pan. In the same way cook the rest of the pancakes one by one.

For the sauce blend banana with cocoa powder and sprinkle of sugar. Serve with blueberries and a good portion of Latte Macchiato :)

Enjoy you weekend and remember that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Becausehow you start it does matter!!!

Raspberry Kiwi Smoothie

One more month passed by... Man, it was changing April! Rain, hail, sun and temperatures below 0. All in all - a period when "when-will-the-summer-finally-come?" question was theme of each day. People got exhausted from lack of sun and surplus of rain. A wish to stay in bed under warm blanket almost overcame myself. But I survived. Now back on track I am happy to share a lot of new recipes with you.  And since today we have  eventually a sunny warm day I want to emphasise it with a bright smoothie recipe.

Ingredients:

yields 2 portions

4 kiwi

1 cup raspberries (frozen or fresh)

4 bananas

0.5 cup water

Smoothies are full of vitamins and fibre, therefore make a perfect alternative to sugary sparkling drinks, lemonades and juices. As you know, the latter only cause a sugar spike and therefore it is much healthier to consume fruits with flesh. Smoothies can also make a wonderful colourful breakfast. In other words, it is SMOOTHIE TIME! I hope you've already tried Vitamin Boost Smoothie because today we have a perfect combination of kiwis, banana and raspberries. Sweet, sour, full of vitamin C, Е, РР, А, В1, В2, В3, В6, takes your stress away and boosts your metabolism. 

In a smoothie maker mix 2 bananas, 4 kiwis and 1/4 cup water. Blend thoroughly and pour equally into the glasses. Then combine raspberries, rest of the water and bananas. Mix and carefully pour over the first layer. Easy, right?

I decorated them with wonderful flowers and how did you serve yours? 

Share your posts with hash tag #gourmetbalance on Instagram. Check my profile here and enjoy May!!!

Baked Cinnamon Apples with Ricotta filling and Dried Plums

Finally the last weekend it warm in Hamburg!!!! On Saturday we even opened a Grill season in the park nearby and it was amazing. We grilled our favourite squids as in the recipe here. And also made mackerel as in the easy recipe here. This method is suitable for any type of fish you like. An tastes sooooo good. This week though the weather changed day by day to a rainy changeable one. These are the days when you wake up from the sun rays creeping into your window, happily take your sun glasses and on your way to bus stop realise that it starts raining and gets really dark. Then approximately 5 times a day you observe the same phenomenon. "Hello April!" - in other words. 

The changes in the weather also inspired me to make a change in my nutrition. This week I live without meat. And I have to say that I feel myself perfectly good. I am not saying that I am getting vegan. No! But a little break from time to time is needed. Besides, fish did a good job this week for me. 

As you remember from my autumn posts about "I quit sugar" our bodies are able to live without processed food, empty calories from sugar and other harmful ingredients. So as summer is coming let us try again. Sugar free life brings much more benefits!!! Usually with hiden sugar from processed food we consume around 25 and more tea spoons of sugar daily. Did you know that American Heart Assosiation recommends women to consume maximum 6 tsp of sugar (24g), men - 9 tsp (36g) and children - 3 tsp (12g)? So grab your friend, partner, colleague and take the challenge. Are you with me?

Let us start from limiting sugar in the first week. Try to avoid adding sugar to coffee, tea and food. OR at least reduce the amout of it in comparison to your regular intake. For more recipes and inspiration see also Home made peanut butter and other healthy sugar free recipes and Wholewheat Banana-Date Bread with Walnuts. And here is one more recipe to make your detox time a big pleasure.

Ingredients:
5 medium apples
5 dried plums
1 tbsp honey or agave syrup
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup ricotta cheese (250g)
1/3 tsp vanilla seeds
allspice for decorating

Preheat the oven to 180C. Accurately cut off the apple tops. Using a potato peeler cut out the core scooping out all the seeds. Sprinkle the apples with cinnamon. Into each of them push one dried plum. Place the apples in a baking pan or form. Place the apple tops on the apples. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Baking time depends on the size of apples. Check them from time to time not to overbake. From outside they should become shiny and a bit soft. Do not overbake.

Meanwhile place the ricotta cheese and 1 tablespoon of honey or agave syrup and vanilla into a small bowl. Mix well.

Once the apples are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes. 

Then open the lids and fill the center of each apple with ricotta cheese filling. Sprinkle the apples with allspice and couple drops of agave syrup.

Place the apple tops back on the apples and serve. 

And what is your favorite sugar free recipe? 

How much sugar do you consume daily? 

How long can you keep your nutrition plan sugar free?

Let me know in the comments below.

Wholemeal Oat Lactose Free Ginger Cookies

These 4 days off were so lazy and cozy that  when we came back from the gym yesterday and spent our afternoon watching movies all I wanted was a quick healthy snack. And so I baked these amazing cookies. I even did not expect them to be so cute :) And they were sooo tasty. Moreover, lactose free wholemeal and reduced in sugar. Only two of them are currently waiting for my morning coffee time tomorrow. So I will keep it short: just bake them!

Ingredients:

yields 9 cookies

1 cup wholemeal spelt flour

1 cup oatmeal flour
1 heaped tbsp oat flakes

1 tsp baking powder

1 banana

1 tsp mixed spices (or ginger cookies spices/or just mix cardamon, anis, cinnamon, muscat nut etc.)

2 tbsp honey

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp demerara black sugar

Preheat oven to 180°С. Prepare your baking sheet, lining it with baking paper.

In a bowl mix dry ingredients. Add mashed banana, oil, honey, oat flakes and Demerara sugar. Mix the dough well and form 9 balls of equal size. If you prefer smaller form you will get more of them (nice benefit for quantity :). Press the balls to form a cookie. I used a HOME-MADE stamp for it and it looked just awesome!!!

Bake the cookies 15 minutes until golden edges. Tastes perfectly with whole milk. Unless you are lactose intolerant. Then for tea/coffee time - perfect match!

Enjoy!

 

Old-New Oat flakes: 5 Easy and Healthy TOP- recipes

It is sometimes quite interesting how one posts get more popular than the others. I often try to guess in advance if the reader will like my recipe this time or not. I often find a post not that powerful while the others just love it. Or it also happens that I am really proud of the recipe and pictures but, indeed, they do not find a wide public of adherents.

Therefore today I decided to dedicate my post to a product we all know and sometimes forget about: old-fashioned oatmeal. Too simple? I do not think so. Easy, healthy and (!) gluten free - YES!

And here are my 5 TOP-recipes with oat flakes:

1.Starting with the classic breakfast recipe: Old fashioned oatmeal. It becomes creative when you open your drawer and get out all the various nuts, coconut flakes, dried fruits, seeds, cinnamon. Keep cool and eat oats :)

2. Oat banana egg pancake with fresh figs and joghurt: my recipe on duty in case I have a sweet rush. It is done within three steps Mix-Fry-Fill. Add your favourite seasonal fruit pieces and way to go for a healthy snack.

3. Oat pancakes with cinnamon apples and vanilla ice-cream - can be served as a dessert or snack or breakfast in bed ;) My tip to you - make yourself a time out when you can fully enjoy each bite. It is so worth it!

4. And what do you usually have as a snack while travelling? I prefer Home made grab'n'go granola power snack. They may be easily transported in an air tight container, easy to prepare and always ready to charge your power.

5. And the last but not least - chewy healthy and easy Sweet date candy-balls. They may be prepared in advance and frozen for "better times". And how entertaining it becomes when kids are involved in the process. Did I ever tell you the story how my nephew helped me to bake a cheesecake? He was delighted! But that is a totally another story.

Summary for today: do not understate the healthy benefits from consuming oats. Because we live once, let us live a healthy life!

Wholewheat Banana-Date Bread with Walnuts

Rainy weekend... Nothing surprising for this time of the year in Hamburg. And sometimes it is not that bad because you pick your "To-do-in-rainy-weather list" and find something special to cheer you up. It may be reading of another interesting book that was waiting on your shelf for better times, or watching a movie that transfers you to a different world of adventures, or doing something useful like cleaning, sewing, knitting. For me it is usually cooking. But firstly - gathering inspiration. I start leafing through my favorite cooking books, magazines, food blogs, pinterest posts in my Recipes desk and usually come back to reality in about an hour, full of ideas and energy. This time it was very quickly. Since I finally got Everyday Super Food by Jamie Oliver I wanted to do this fantastic recipe: Figgy Banana Bread. And everything would be cool and smooth if I didn't realize that I don't have dried figs and almonds :(......

 But who cares?! If I have enough dates and walnuts! And a bowl of inspiration!!!

So here is my version of Bread from Jamie Oliver - Wholewheat Banana-Date Dread with Walnuts.

Ingredients:

yields 1 round loaf of bread 24 cm in diameter

adopted from Everyday Super Food by J.Oliver

250 g dried pitted dates (about 30 dates)

100 g wholemeal spelt flour

50 g wholemeal buckwheat flour

4 tbsp grapeseed oil

5 tbsp Bulgaria yoghurt

1 tbsp corn flour

2 large eggs

3 ripe bananas

1/3 tsp vanilla seeds

1 heaped teaspoon baling powder

100 g ground walnuts

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 apple

50 g whole walnuts

This bread is really packed with healthy ingredients (nuts, wholewheat flour, seeds, healthy oil), contains only natural sugar, no added. Therefore it serves a perfect snack to-go, breakfast or dessert. I personally had a wonderful breakfast today - couple of banana-date bread slices with peanut butter.... Yummy!!!

First of all preheat the oven to 180 °C. Line a 24 cm round ovenproof form with baking paper. Wash the dates and place 200g of them in a food processor together with eggs, peeled bananas, oil, yoghurt and vanilla seeds. Blitz until smooth. Then add both flour types with baking powder, ground walnuts, poppy seeds and turmeric. Pulse until combined with the rest of the dough. Add corn flour.

Grate the apple and mix it in. Pour the mixture into the form and spread evenly. Cut the remaining dates into pieces and decorate the bread with them, pushing them a bit. Then place walnuts all over the top. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden, cooked through and as inserted skewer comes out clean. Let it cool a little.

Voila! Easy and ready to be eaten: a Perfect Smooth Sweet Nutty Healthy Date-Banana Bread with Wholemeal flour and Walnuts!

All you need now is PATIENCE not to eat it all at once ;)