every day in the kitchen

The title sounds fit for the memoirs of a 1950s housewife, but don't be fooled: this cookbook by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis now shares my affections with Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion. It might even be just a little bit better than Stephanie's trusty tome, which doesn't have a recipe for cinnamon buns. My god, those cinnamon buns!

I finally got around to spending the $25 UQ Bookshop book voucher I received for helping out with the nutrition stand back in August (or whenever my profile photo is dated). The book cost $35, which meant I forked over an extra $10. I got a bargain. This book is a beauty. It's one of those handy compilations of a zillion different recipes (well, 500 in this case) and 99% of them look extremely doable. The other 1% seem to require a le creuset cast iron pan (or similar) with a lid, something we probably can't afford for a while.




You can see the layout of the chapters from the pictures. Like TCC, every day in the kitchen contains a little blurb prior to most of the recipes, often about the authors' (editors? Compilers?) experiences with the recipe or merely a short description of the dish. This is a feature I really enjoy. It also has occasional pictures, which I used to think were essential in a recipe book; I now hold in higher esteem a good recipe and any helpful hints that the author is able to provide rather than a slickly styled photograph bearing minimal resemblance to the reality composed by a 'food stylist' and a photographer. Still, the pictures are nice.

Another feature I thought was great was the suggestions for variations on a recipe printed at the bottom of many of the recipes. This kind of recipe improvisation is something that I'll do quite often anyway, but it's a nice touch and could provide inspiration at times when I'm lacking.

So far I've only tried two recipes, the san choy bau and the cinnamon buns. The san choy bau was really good (I substituted macadamia nut oil for peanut oil and added some chilli flakes, red capsicum and bamboo shoots), but the highlight was the cinnamon buns,partly for the experience of baking my own bread but mostly because they taste just phenomenally good. Bread making is something I've never done before (!) and up until now has been Gam's domain in the kitchen... Gam can churn out all kinds of fancy and incredibly tasty bread without even having access to a strong flour. I never knew kneading could be such fun, feeling the dough turn from almost sticky to springy under my hands.

Best of all, the buns are incredibly tasty. My only recommendation is to make slightly more of the cinnamon/butter/sugar paste, and use brown sugar for the paste. I didn't bother with an egg wash for the ones in the picture.

sticky cinnamon buns

400g plain unbleached flour
60g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
14g dried yeast
50g butter (I used ~65g)
1 egg
200mL milk
75g soft butter (I used ~80g)
75g caster sugar (I used brown sugar, ~90g)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (~2tsp... you can't really have too much cinnamon, can you?)

Sift flour, sugar, salt and yeast together into a large bowl. Melt butter and mix with egg and milk. Pour onto flour, mix briefly with a wooden spoon (I used a plastic scraper), then tip out onto a floured bench. Knead for 4-5 minutes or until dough is smooth and silky. Place dough in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and set aside in a warm place to prove until doubled in bulk, about 1-2 hours.

Tip dough onto floured surface and knead well. Roll dough out to a large square about 30cm (the thinner you make it the more surface area for the yummy cinnamon bit to cling to! Don't be afraid to make it a bit bigger). Mix soft butter, sugar and cinnamon together and spread liberally over dough (meaning cover every visible area of the dough's upper surface- this is the tasty bit, remember). Roll up from one end to form a large Swiss roll shape. Cut into 2cm slices. Place slices, cut side up into a lined deep baking tray. Cover tray with a tea towel and prove in a warm place for 20 minutes (use clingwrap again if you don't want to get your tea towel messy).

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Brush with egg wash. Place proved buns in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until risen and golden brown. Best eaten warm. Makes 12 buns.