Cheddar Poppy Seed Bread Sticks #BreadBakers

Crunchy and savory, these cheddar poppy seed bread sticks make the perfect munchable for snack time or even happy hour, with a cold glass of beer or wine of any color.

Here in the Channel Islands, we are blessed to have several well-stocked grocery stores, as long as the weather is fine, that is. One really starts to realize the limitations of living perched on a rock in the middle of the English Channel when storms come through and ships with fresh supplies are canceled for a few days. That’s when my deep freezer really comes into its own.

Along with all of the frozen foods, I also keep a stockpile of spices, nuts, flours and seeds in there. When our original Bread Bakers host for this event, Archana of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen proposed bread with seeds as our theme, I was excited. In Dubai, my home for six years until this past April, it is illegal to own poppy seeds. My current freezer has not one but two bags of the crunchy black seeds.

Cheddar Poppy Seed Bread Sticks

To make these bread sticks, I use a stand mixer but you can certainly do it by hand if you have the muscles to knead bread dough.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all purpose plain flour
1 teaspoon dried instant yeast
2/3 cup or 156ml lukewarm water
Pinch sugar
2 1/2 oz or 71g extra mature cheddar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons poppy seeds
1 teaspoon canola or other light oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Method
Finely grate your cheese and set aside a few tablespoons or so for sprinkling on the bread sticks before baking.

In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, measure in the yeast and add the lukewarm water, the pinch of sugar and a tablespoon of the flour. Leave to proof for a few minutes.

When the mixture starts to foam up, sift in the rest of the flour and the salt, then add the bigger pile of cheese to the bowl. Mix well until a dough forms.

Knead in 2 tablespoons of the poppy seeds.

Keep kneading, either by hand or with your bread hook, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Form a ball of the dough and lightly grease the bowl with the canola oil. Roll the dough ball in the oil to coat.

Cover the bowl and place it in a warm spot for about 45 minutes so the dough will rise.

When the dough has just about doubled, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare two baking pans by lining them with baking parchment or silicone liners.

Punch the dough down and tip it out onto a clean work surface lightly sprinkled with flour. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces.

Roll each out into a long thin stick about 12 in or 30cm long, transferring the finished sticks to the baking pans as you go.

Brush the sticks with the melted butter and sprinkle them with the last teaspoon of poppy seeds and the reserved grated cheddar cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until nicely golden and puffy. They turn really lovely and crunchy as they cool.

If you have any melted butter leftover, give them another dab. No worries if you don’t. They don’t really need it but I hate to waste melted butter! I had enough to do maybe half of the sticks.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Check out all the great seeded breads my fellow Bread Bakers are sharing today!

• Amaranth and Honey Bread from What Smells So Good?
• Brioche Buns from Simply Inspired Meals
• Cheddar Poppy Seed Bread Sticks from Food Lust People Love
• Dinner Rolls With Seeds In Paper Tea Cups from Sneha's Recipe
• Everything Sourdough Bagels from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Gluten Free Amaranth Crackers from Anybody Can Bake
• Gul Poli-Tilgul Poli - Jaggery and Sesame Seeds Stuffed Indian Flatbread from Cook With Renu
• Nordic Stone Age Bread from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Poppy Seed Rolls from Ambrosia
• Seeded Sourdough Boule from Bread Therapy
• Seeded Turmeric and Leek Levain from A Messy Kitchen
• Sesame Scallion Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Wholewheat Poppy Seed Dinner Rolls from Sizzling Tastebuds

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here.  Links are also updated after each event on the BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Hasselback Fondue Potato Bake #BakingBloggers

There are two stars of this recipe for hasselback fondue potato bake: First up are the new potatoes, sliced and roasted, opening up nicely so star number two, the cheese, can melt right inside. The finishing touches of wine and cream, not to mention quick pickled onions, make this dish one you’ll cook again and again.

Here I am channeling Nigella again. (Did you see the almond clementine cake in my last post? So good!) I think it is something to do with the weather turning just a bit cooler and I am motivated to share warming recipes. My apologies to everyone who is still in Indian summer mode, but it’s getting chilly here in the Channel Islands. We aren’t turning the heat on yet but I am certainly enjoying having the oven on in the kitchen again.

The first time I ever heard of hasselback potatoes was on one of Nigella’s shows, probably 10 years ago, and instantly they became one of my favorite dishes. Because who doesn’t love a roast potato that opens up for more butter and/or gravy? No one, that’s who.

Hasselback Fondue Potatoes

This recipe is adapted from one on the .delicious magazine website called hasselback potato bake.  It is described as “a love affair between crisp, roast potatoes and melted cheese – more specifically fondue.” Theirs also called for kirsch, which I know can be a traditional addition to fondue but I am not a fan. Add a sprinkle with the cream and wine if you are.

Ingredients
1 small purple onion, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Pinch sugar
Pinch salt
1 1/2 pounds or 680g new potatoes, scrubbed clean
1/4 cup or 57g butter, melted, plus extra for the baking pan
6 bay leaves
1/2 garlic bulb, halved horizontally
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
8 3/4 oz or 250g mature cheddar (or your favorite mix of flavorful cheeses)
1/3 cup or 78ml whipping cream
1/3 cup or 78ml dry white wine

Note: Substitute your favorite cheese for this dish. I used primarily a Welsh cheddar with garlic and herbs, called Green Thunder, plus really sharp extra mature cheddar to make up my required amount.

Method
Put the sliced onion in a small bowl. Pour the vinegar over the onion and add the pinches of salt and sugar and stir. Set aside to marinate.

Grate your cheese/s. If using more than one kind, mix them together now.

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and prepare your baking pan or casserole dish by greasing it with a little butter. Choose a vessel that fits your potatoes fairly snugly so they will stay cut side up without rolling around.

Rest each potato on a wooden spoon and cut slices all the way across, just down to the spoon.

Arrange the potatoes in the buttered pan. Use a pastry brush to coat them with half of the melted butter. Tuck the bay leaves and garlic in between the potatoes and sprinkle the whole dish with fine sea salt and a few generous grinds of black pepper.

Roast the potatoes in your preheated oven for about 30-35 minute, or until they are golden and almost cooked through. (Poke them with a fork to check.)

Baste the potatoes with the remaining butter and return the pan to the oven for another 15 minutes. The slits of the hasselback potatoes should really be opening up now, ready to absorb the delicious cheese, cream and wine that are coming!

Remove the baking pan from the oven and sprinkle on half of the grated cheese. Pour half of the wine over the potatoes, followed by half of the cream.

Set aside a few slivers of the pickled onion and scatter half of the balance on top of the cheese.

Follow this with the rest of the cheese, wine and cream, then top with the second half of the pickled onion.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted and the whole dish is bubbling. If the cheese isn’t browned enough, you can turn the broiler on for a few minutes but do not step away, if you do. Cheese can burn quickly!

Top with the few reserved slivers of onion to serve, for a last pop of color and freshness.

Enjoy!

This month my Baking Blogger friends are sharing their favorite recipes with potatoes. Many thanks to our host Sue of Palatable Pastime for her behind the scenes work and this delicious theme. Check out all the tasty potato recipes below.

• Baked Cajun Potatoes by Anybody Can Bake
• Baked Potato Skins with Paneer and Veggies by Cook with Renu
• Easy Savory Sweet Potato Muffins by Recipe Pocket
• Egyptian Sanyet el Batates by Pandemonium Noshery
• Hasselback Fondue Potato Bake by Food Lust People Love
• Individual Quiches with Potato Crust by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Italian Potato Cake (Gattò di Patate) by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Oven Roasted Garlic Potatoes by Palatable Pastime
• Roasted Befteki and Potatoes by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Salsa Potato Stacks In Muffin Pan by Sneha's Recipe
• Wizarding World Roasted Potatoes by Simply Inspired Meals

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

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Almond Clementine Cake Squares #FoodieExtravaganza

Super easy to make, the rich batter for these almond clementine cake squares is whipped up in a food processor with long simmered clementines, which you don’t even peel. I’ve been making versions of this cake for years with great success. As long as your guests like orange marmalade and almonds, they are going to be huge fans, I promise.

Early last year a good friend and neighbor was traveling so she asked me to unlock her door for guests that were going to arrive at her home before she returned. She had prepared and frozen a lovely beef stew for them to reheat and popped it in the freezer. My other task was to put the stew in the refrigerator so it could thaw in time for their dinner.

I decided that such a wonderful beef stew also deserved an equally flavorful dessert. It was a winter day, chilly by Dubai standards, but my home was warm and the fragrant aroma of sweet orange hung in the air as my clementines cooked, and again, as the cake rose puffy and golden in the oven. Honestly, there is something therapeutic about baking this cake, perhaps it was channeling my inner Nigella.

Isn’t it wonderful when one can do a good deed and reap benefits as well?

Clementine Almond Cake Squares

This recipe is adapted from Nigella Lawson’s very first book, How to Eat, the Pleasures and Principles of Good Food, originally published in 1998. It is naturally gluten-free as long as you take care that your baking powder is gluten-free, of course.

Ingredients
8-10 tiny thin skinned clementines (about 1 lb 4 1/4oz or 575g total weight)
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cup or 300g sugar
3 cups or 320g ground almonds
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional to serve: powdered sugar

Method
Cover the clementines with cool water in a large pot and bring them to the boil. Lower the fire until the water is at a very low rolling boil and cook for two hours. Check the water level occasionally and add more water to keep them covered, as needed during the cooking.

Drain the pot and set the clementines aside to cool. Once they are cool enough to handle, discard the stem stubs, cut the clementines in half around their equators and remove any seeds.

Puree the clementines in a food processor, peels and all, until smooth.

Note: The clementines can also be cooked a day or two ahead of baking. Once the clementines are cool, put them in a airtight container and refrigerate them until you are ready to bake, then follow instructions to remove the seeds, etc. and carry on with the rest of the recipe.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 13x 9 in or 33 x 23cm pan by lining it with baking parchment. Set aside.

Add the almond flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to the food processor and blitz for a minute or so until completely combined.

Add the eggs and blitz again until you have a homogeneous batter.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes in the preheated oven or until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Check the color of the cake as it bakes and cover it with foil if it starts browning too much before it is cooked through.

Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes then slide it out of the pan using the parchment and leave it on the wire rack to cool completely.

This cake needs nothing more but it is pretty with a light sprinkling of powdered sugar. Cut into squares to serve as dessert or, indeed, with a cup of afternoon tea.

Enjoy!

This month my Foodie Extravaganza friends are wishing happy birthday to Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, the creator of afternoon tea. Our host is Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. She wrote, "Let's celebrate with anything afternoon tea-related. It can be your favorite tea, something made with tea, or something that you would eat at a tea party." Check out all the wonderful recipes we are sharing:

• Almond Clementine Cake Squares by Food Lust People Love
• Assorted Tea Sandwiches for Afternoon Tea by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cherry Almond Scones by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Gourmet Fruit and Nut Crisps by Palatable Pastime
• Hawaij Coffee Scones by Caroline's Cooking
• Meat Pan Rolls by Sneha's Recipe
• Prickly Pear Lemon Curd by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Pumpkin Cranberry Scones by Simply Inspired Meals

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month.

Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a reader looking for delicious recipes check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

Pin these Almond Clementine Cake Squares!

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