Non sugar, Non flour flapjack

It's not that I'm particularly watching my waist line and I love my sweet sugary cakes too much to give them up, but sometimes I fancy a healthier snack. And today was one of those days.

I decided to make oats cookie without sugar and flour. However, it came out as a flapjack... Oh well, it tasted great and so addictive that
I kept going back for more and it was gone before tea time...;D

As a sweetener I used date syrup and added dried prune and raisin to give it more natural sweetness. Knowing the amount of margarine added into the recipe, I'm not quite sure if I can call it a "healthy snack", but at least there is no sugar in it and it has oats and prune that are a good source of fiber.

I guess this flapjack works with other dried fruits too. I'm going to try apricot or blueberry next time;)

ingredients:

Oats 150g

Corn starch 30g

Margarine 100g

Date syrup 5 tbsp

Raisin 100g

Dried prune (chopped) 100g

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Cream margarine and date syrup together.

2. Mix  oats and corn starch into 1.

3. Mix raisin and prune into 2.

4. Spread the mixture on a baking tray. Bake in the preheated oven (180ºc) for 10 minutes. When the flapjack is cooled , cut it into the size you like.

Raisins & Oats bread

A variation of my previous post, Super easy bread. This time I used oats and raisins to give the bread a nice bite to it. It worked very well.., just as I wanted. :D Every mouthful I could tasted the sweet raisins and feel the bits of oats.

Toasting and spreading a nob of butter really brings out the flavour. Yum yum yum..., baking those breads really makes me realise again how much I love making breads!

Ingredients:
Strong flour 400g

Oats 100g

Sugar 40g

Water (lukewarm) 350g

Dried yeast 7g

Salt 5g

Margarine 50g 

Raisin 3-4 handfuls

1. Put strong flour, oats, sugar, salt and yeast in a standing mixer with a dough hook attached.

2. Pour lukewarm water over yeast. Turn the mixer on and knead for a minutes.

3. Add margarine into 2. Keep kneading for 10 minutes. Add raisin and knead another few minutes.

4. Cover the dough with cling film and rest it until it has doubled in size.

5. Punch the dough to let the air out. Rest for 10 minutes.

6. Grease a loaf tin with oil, place the dough and rest it until it has doubled in size.

7. Preheat the oven to 200ºc. Bake for 30 minutes.

Super easy bread

As a baker I'd rather make a loaf of bread than buying a cheap crappy bread that I think is not even a "BREAD"... Especially when a loaf is this simple and easy to make and tastes great, and I know exactly what is in it, I'm definitely making one myself.

Oh and.., just to assure you how easy to make your own bread, I've got a 10 days old baby and I can still make this bread around my baby schedule:)

So, the recipe is...

Ingredients:

Strong flour 500g

Sugar 40g

Water (lukewarm) 350g

Dried yeast 7g

Salt 5g

Oil 2 tbsp

1. Put strong flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a standing mixer with a dough hook attached.

2. Pour lukewarm water over yeast. Turn the mixer on and knead for a minutes.

3. Add oil into 2. Keep kneading for 10 minutes.

4. Cover the dough with cling film and rest it until it has doubled in size.

5. Punch the dough to let the air out. Rest for 10 minutes.

6.Grease a loaf tin with oil, place the dough and rest it until it has doubled in size.

7. Preheat the oven to 200ºc. Bake for 30 minutes.

Here are some tips to make the job easier...

• I use Kenwood kMix to knead the dough.
Quite literally, this machine has changes my baking life... My best friend in the kitchen;D

• To quicken the rising process, I turn the oven on to something like 180ºc while preparing the dough. When the oven gets warm (not hot hot), turn the oven off and put the dough covered with cling film in the oven to rest and rise it. It'll take only 20 minutes or so for the dough to double in size.

I used strong brown flour this time, but strong white flour or whole meal works just as good. This loaf is great when it's toasted with spread of butter. It was so tasty that we found ourselves finishing half the loaf at once... ooops... ;)