Energy bites

Found this lovely recipe from Sprouted Kitchen, but with the intent to have them as a workout-snack tonight I thought I'd tweak it a bit. Hemp protein powder with its nutty flavour works well in chocolaty or nutty sweets, a pinch of salt is a good addition when you're drinking and sweating it balances the sweetness of the dates well too.

Mash up soft fresh dates (with a fork or food processor) with unsalted peanut butter and enough almond flour and hemp protein powder to form a crumbly thick dough, add cocoa nibs if you have and/or some dry cranberries. Roll small balls and sprinkle a little Maldon salt on top. Store cold.

The tiny 5min batch I did this morning, took 6 pitted small fresh moroccan dates, 1tbsp smooth unsweetened peanut butter, roughly 1/2dl almond flour and about 3tbsp hemp protein powder and made 8 bite-sized balls.  (And for a batch this small, forget about storing, my biggest problem is not eating them all before practice!)


They're absolutely divine and chewy (not hard) when you stick them in the freezer for a few hours. And, why not roll them in cocoa powder and serve them up, like truffles, with champagne?

Workout treats

Salad vinaigrette formula

A salad is not a salad is not a salad without a dressing. I'll use up the last drops of any random sauces in the salad dressings I make. Once I managed to empty 6 different condiment bottles and jars at the same go (see the asian dressing below). So I promise you, you can always stir one up with any remnants in the cupboard...

I'll usually mix my salad dressings in any empty glass jar with a tight lid, filling it up halfway (to leave room for shaking it) with 

• something or some things sour (usually fresh lemon juice, but sometimes any kind of vinegar, lime juice etc), this together with the fat is really the bulk of the dressing
• something or some things fat (olive oil, unsweetened peanut butter, tahini, sesame oil etc etc)
• something sweet (some sugar, honey, fruits, jam or marmalade, a little goes a long way)
• something or some things salty (salt, shoyu, anchovy, grated parmesan cheese etc etc)
• and maybe something more (dijon and finely chopped shallots, mustard, chives, herbs, sesame seeds, a little cream, yoghurt, grated ginger, fresh or roasted garlic, fresh or roasted chili etc etc)

Go wild!

Close the lid (properly) and shake it, taste and add whatever you feel is missing and shake some more, repeat til you're satisfied with the flavour. 

An always sure bet is the Dijon vinaigrette including lemon juice, olive oil, honey, salt, dijon mustard and shallots. But I'm pretty sure everybody, really everybody, already knew how make a Dijon vinaigrette. Right?

My asian flavours dressing include lime juice, rice vinegar, peanut butter and toasted sesame oil, sugar, soy sauce, spring onions and a mix of dark and light sesame seeds. Or I'll do a simpler version with soy sauce, lemon juice, peanut butter, honey and some roast garlic and chili oil. Nice with any greens, kale, cole, shrimps, chicken etc.

Right now I have this strange sounding chocolate dressing idea in mind that I have not tried out yet, playing with the idea of a mole really. I'm thinking balsamic vinegar,  chocolate syrup, sesame oil, salt and chili... maybe some peanutbutter too if it falls too flat without,  this to top off some really dark green leaves, roasted pinenuts and cooked torn-up chicken. Try it if you fancy, but I'm taking no responsibility for it...

Flatbread with oats

I still bake all my bread adapting the basic bread recipe I shared with you earlier, this one is no different. The rolled oats in the recipe keeps the bread fresh and moist for a long time, they're full of fiber and makes a perfect filling lunch sandwich.

To start with, stir 12 g of fresh yeast (1/4 of a block) and 1 tsp of sea salt into 3dl of cold water. Add about 3dl of rolled oats and 2,5dl of bread flour and give it a quick stir.

The dough just after first mixing.

Let the dough rest for a half-hour, fold it over by hand and cover with a little extra flour and let it rest for another half hour. Sprinkle the worktop with some flour and transfer the dough over, form a round flat cake on the worktop (about 1,5cm thick and the size of a large plate), sprinkle with flour and cover with a tea towel while heating the oven for another halfhour.

Baked out on the countertop

Heat the oven to 250C with the baking stone, if you have one, or the baking tray inside. 

Transfer the bread to the hot stone, might help to fold it over in half and/or using a spatula. Fold it back out on the stone, prick the surface with a fork and cut the cake in 6-8 pieces (without cutting all the way through). Then, put the bread in the oven and lower the heat to 200C and bake for about 20 minutes. 

Bread basics

I bake bread quite often nowadays, ever since discovering Martin Johansson's excellent book and blog some time ago baking rather than buying bread have become the norm.

The basic recipe I use over and over is rather simple, there's barely any kneading involved. I don't go about it very scientifically, never used a scale and nowadays I only really use a measure for the water, so the outcome is rarely the same.

For variation I mix in seeds and substituting part of the flour for other than wheat. I've noticed that part oat or spelt keeps the bread fresh for longer. Durum helps the bread rise and is good to combine with the spelt and oat flours don't rise so well otherwise.  A favourite of mine is with wholemeal wheat flour, spelt flour, sunflower seeds and whole spelt grains to make a really satisfying bread which keeps you going for long. Great everyday staple, tasting fresh even 4 days in. Another favourite is a simple white loaf with dried fruits and nuts to serve with a cheese platter.

A dough based on 2 litres of water, making 40 something burger buns

For 1 loaf of bread just stir together:

3 dl cold water

sea salt to taste, I like it as salty as the ocean

~10g of fresh yeast

and then stir in:

~6,5 dl flour

________

Don't worry if it looks like sticky porridge at this point, it should. If it looks too much like a dough and feels tough, add some water and stir a little more. You can then choose to:

Let it rest for a half-hour, fold the dough over a few times, rest again, fold again, rest again and fold a third time before wrapping it loosely in tea towel well covered in flour and let rise for an hour while heating the oven with the baking tray (and pizza stone if you have one) to 275C.

or

Let it rest for four hours, fold the dough over, wrap in a tea towel covered in flour and let rise while heating the oven and the baking tray.

or 

Let it rest in the fridge overnight, fold the dough over, again wrap in the tea towel and let rise while heating the oven and the baking tray.

________

Once the oven is hot and the dough have risen nicely transfer the dough to the hot oven tray. I often just grab the dough at two ends and twist it over before laying it down on the tray, to give it nice shape. When the tray is hot it will close up the dough which makes it not stick, paper will easily burn at 275. 

Bake in the middle of the oven for approx 25 mins. After half the time, turn the heat down to 250.

or

If you at this point notice that you are running out of time and don't have 1,5 hours. Start heating the oven, form 8-10 buns or two baguettes and let rise while the oven heats up, then bake for approx 15 mins.

Let the loaf or buns cool on a grid or in a basket without covering.

The burger buns a few hours later

To really make it rise high in the oven you need to bring up the humidity. Fancy ovens even have a function to spray in moisture, mine doesn't. When baking all-white ciabatta type loaves, I place a small dish with a little water in it on the bottom of the oven to build moisture.

The other trick, to make the crust really crispy, is to let the moisture out after half the time. And of course, to use part durum flour (pasta flour) in the dough.