April month here in Siena.

April is a very rainy month here in Siena.More of 50% of days, are rainy days.

I love when is raining. It seems the Nature thanks the atmosphere. The water in fact washes trees, bushes, flowers and grass. I think every landscape is more beautiful when bathed by the rain.

Even pictures show an special light and fantastic colours….. as into a “dream”.

One more facilitation in my case, is that I don’t need to water my flowers and vegetable in my garden.

When outside is raining I like to cook some bread of biscuits.

One more facilitation in my case, is that I don’t need to water my flowers and my vegetables in the garden.

When outside is raining I like to cook some bread of biscuits.

I don’t like fat or creamy. In fact yesterday I prepared some round shaped cookies, very easy, simple and healthy.

They are nice when to drink a cup of milk.

I mixed

• 1 glass of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 glass of fresh milk
• 200gr. Of white cane sugar
• A pitch of cinnamon
• ½ tea spoon of yeast
• As much as flour as requested.

I firstly mixed in a bowl the milk + oil + sugar. Then, I added the yeast and cinnamon. Finally I added the flour.

In order to mix all ingredients better, I put the dough into the bread machine and I selected the mixed program.

When the dough was ready I took small portions and I shaped them as a doughnut .

I put them into the oven at 180C° for 7 minutes in the bottom part and 7 minutes at 150 C° in the high part (I put a tray between the cookies and the grill, to avoid burning them.

Bon appétit !!

Quando è freddo …. !

When it is too cold … !

Siamo entrati nel 2010.

Addirittura siamo quasi arrivati a febbraio.

Il mese di gennaio si è presentato freddo e piovoso. Persino nevoso non molto lontano da qui.

I campi sono addormentati e gli alberi sono in letargo con gli orsi.La mattina quando mi alzo vedo un’alba bellissima, tutta rossa, come di fuoco. Mi chiedo se sia il freddo a originare queste esplosioni di colore.

Pure i campi sono uno spettacolo la mattina, sono coperti da una coltre di gelo.

Sono veramente belli sembrano cosparsi di zucchero a velo. Gli alberi allungano le proprie braccia magari cercando i raggi solari, alla ricerca di un po’ di conforto che li aiuti a svegliarsi.

Io approfitto di queste giornate gelide per rimanere a casa, in cucina. Mi piace moltissimo la mia cucina. Ci vivo nel mio tempo libero. Leggo, scrivo, lavoro al computer e naturalmente cucino.

Oggi, tra le altre cose, ho preparato le focaccine . A mio figlio piacciono tanto per lo spuntino a scuola, così io ne preparo parecchie e le surgelo, così le trovo pronte quando mi servono. A volte le mangia lisce, altre volte ci metto dentro il formaggio. Si preparano facilmente, il risultato è garantito.

Per circa 15 focaccine ci vogliono :

500 gr. farina 00

Acqua quanto basta (200 ml circa)

1 cucchiaino di zucchero

20 gr. di lievito fresco.

1 cucchiaio di sale

2 cucchiai di EVOO

Mettere tutti gli ingredienti nel panificatore, selezionando il programma impasto. Il mio ci mette 1 ora e 50 minuti.

Quando l’impasto è pronto, si versa su una superficie infarinata, si fa rotolare sulla farina e si copre per farlo lievitare. Quando ha raddoppiato il volume iniziale, si taglia a pezzi grandi come un kiwi, quindi si schiacciano leggermente, si adagiano su una teglia coperta con carta da forno. A quel punto, si fanno riposare per 30 minuti. In fine si spennellano con olio e si cuociono nel forno caldo a 180 ° per 20 minuti circa.

------- Here in English :

We are already in February 2010.

January has been cold and rainy here in Lischeto.

In the morning when I wake up, I see beautiful sunup, very red as a big fire. I don’t know if the cause of these “marvellous shows” are the very low temperatures.

Fields and trees already are still sleeping. The fist ones are iced, as covered with icing sugar. The trees stretch their arms maybe trying to get some rays of sunshine.

In my free time, when outside is cold I stay at home, in the kitchen. I love my kitchen. There, I read, I write, I work at the computer and of course I cook.

Today I have prepared small flat breads (Focaccine). My son loves to eat them . They are very easy to cook and always they are delicious.

For 15 focaccine you need:

500 gr. flour 00

Water around 200 ml

1 tea-spoon of sugar.

20 gr. fresh yeast..

1 soup-spoon of salt.

2 soup-spoon of EVOO.

Put all ingredients in the bread machine and select dough program. My machine takes 1 housr and 50 minutes.

When ready, lay down the dough on a surface covered with flour. Cover the dough and wait until it rises (about double of its initial volume). Then cut it into small pieces (kiwi size), squash them and brush them with some EVOO. Bake them at 180° for around 20 minutes.

Bread rolls

I love to cook bakery products. Some years ago, some body gifted me a bakery machine to prepare the bread at home…. It was a nice surprise. At the beginning, I programmed it to do everything, so when the cycle was finished, the bread was ready to be eaten. Then, I learnt that I could program it to prepare the dough only, then I could cut it into small pieces and oven them to get bread rolls.

The ones in the picture are sweet. I prepare them in this way:

600 gr. Flour 00

200 ml of warm water

4 tsp of powder milk

5 tsp of sugar

40 gr. Butter

1 tea spoon of dry yeast for bread.

Put all ingredients together into the bakery machine and select dough cycle (mine takes 1 hour and 50 minutes), when finished put the dough on a smooth surface, covered it with some flour, then cover it for around 30 / 40 minutes..

Turn off the oven at 180 C°.

Cut the dough into small pieces, as you prefer. Wet them with some milk and sprinkle some sugar on. Bake for about 15 / 20 minutes (after 10 minutes check cook condition).

They are delicious with only butter…. Or maybe with orange ham.