Lasagne - The Fresh Pasta Sheets

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Lasagne, The Fresh Pasta Sheets

Link to my newest and old recipes, click:

https://kitchenbaroness.wordpress.com/

Homemade lasagne sheets will bake the softest of lasagne. Once you taste a forkful of lasagne made with them, you would be reluctant to go back to that box of dried lasagne sheets.

This recipe for pasta dough is egg based. Recipes for egg pasta doesn't vary much - all-purpose/plain flour and eggs in a ratio of ~100g flour to 1 large egg. The flour could be a mix of all-purpose and semolina. Eggs could be a combination of whole eggs and egg yolks .

I stick to all-purpose flour as semolina flour produces a sturdier pasta and I want soft pillowy sheets of pasta. ~3 egg yolks replaces 1 whole egg. So you could replace 1/3 of the total amount with egg yolks which makes for a more luxurious silky pasta.

Making fresh pasta is messy. There is no denying it. Your kitchen would be floury - floors, everything! But, no boxed pasta can replace the feel of teeth biting into velvety smooth, tender, freshly made pasta. For that, I am willing to take mop to hand and clean up my kitchen.

To find out how I minimise turning my kitchen into a floury fairy land, please scroll down to 'Tips'.

Recipe for my Lasagne will be in the upcoming post.

baking and to view my Easter table from 2015.

LASAGNE - THE FRESH PASTA SHEETS                            

Prep:	20 minutes
Cook:	For use in lasagne, I add rolled sheets (no need to precook) directly with other lasagne ingredients. In boiling salted water, it depends on how thick or thin you cut/roll them out but it is quick ~ 2 -3 minutes.
Inactive:	1 hour
Level:	Easy but messy
Makes:	1.43lbs (650g) Enough to make 2 trays of lasagne.
Oven Temperature:	-
Can recipe be doubled?	-
Make ahead?	Dough can be made the night before and refrigerated.

Just the ingredients 14.1oz (400g) all-purpose/plain flour 3/4 teaspoon salt 3 eggs + 3 egg yolks (~ 1 cup +/- 2 Tablespoons total)  For a more luxurious and silky pasta. For ideas to use up egg whites, please scroll down to 'Tips'. OR 4 eggs (~ 1 cup +/- 2 Tablespoons total)

Ingredients

14.1oz (400g) all-purpose/plain flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs + 3 egg yolks (~ 1 cup +/- 2 Tablespoons total) 
For a more luxurious and silky pasta. For ideas to use up egg whites, please scroll down to 'Tips'.

OR

4 eggs (~ 1 cup +/- 2 Tablespoons total) 

Method

Using my standing mixer -KitchenAid

You will need a standing mixer that is powerful enough. Those handheld mixers will not do. Alternatively, you could mix the dough in a food processor but kneading will have to be done by hand.

Mix flour and salt in the mixer bowl. 

Beat the eggs/egg yolks.

Attach the dough hook. Turn the machine on medium-low (dial 3 on KitchenAid) and steadily pour in 1 cup of beaten eggs.

This looks dry and I had to add an extra Tablespoon of egg (you could use the egg whites leftover from the yolks).

This looks better but we still need to machine knead it for ~10 minutes to get it smooth and pliable.

The dough looked smooth but when I pulled on it, it was not very pliable. It felt tight and a tad dry. It should feel a little sticky. So I added another tablespoon of egg.

This dough looks smooth like the picture above but it is pliable and feels a little sticky. That's good.

Shape into a ball, flour the vessel it will be resting in or it will stick, cover tightly and let it rest for 1 hour. It will be impossibly hard to roll out the dough if you do not let it rest for that hour. If you will not be using it after an hour, let it rest in the refrigerator instead. 

After the dough has had its 1 hour resting time, slice into 6 equal portions. Uncovered dough dries up very quickly and I find it best to keep it under a sheet of plastic and in an airtight container. Kitchen towels alone do not offer enough protection.

As far as possible, I work my pasta outdoors as it minimises clean up. Have the following as indicated in the picture below ready. Dust with flour, the pasta machine and the surface area where the rolled pasta would land.

My pasta machine dial runs from 1 to 7 (being the thinnest). Set the dial at 1 (the widest setting). Remove one pre-cut dough, flatten and run it through the rollers. Fold it into a rectangle and run it through Dial 1 again.  Dust with flour if necessary.

You will be working the pasta through consecutively narrower settings through dials 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and you will go through each dial setting twice. Dust with flour when necessary.

After the pasta is rolled through Dial 6 setting, roll the pasta through Dial 7 only once. Dust with flour if necessary.

This is how thin the pasta sheets should look if you are going to use it for lasagne. If you place your arm behind the pasta sheet, you should be able to see its silhouette. The narrowest or the second to narrowest dial setting would be suitable for lasagne and folded pasta, for instance, ravioli. 

When I make lasagne, I not only do not pre-cook the pasta sheets, I use it immediately on the sauces and cheeses. This allows me to roll out the sheets to the thinnest setting and that means the pasta sheets cooks up soft and silky and the mouth feel is incredibly smooth.

If you intend to use the pasta for cut pasta, I would recommend stopping at the second to last narrowest dial setting. If rolled too thin, it might be difficult to handle. 

To store the pasta, dust with enough flour to avoid sticking. Ensure cut strands are separated, dust with sufficient flour and roll into a little nest. Let it dry out on the cooling racks. I keep my pasta in the refrigerator as I am not comfortable storing egg pasta out of the fridge.

Cooking is swift compared to store bought pasta, ~ 2 to 3 minutes in boiling salted water should be sufficient.

Tips

Minimising the floury mess

• Work outdoors

This is ideal if the weather cooperates. Clean up is minimal. No need to mop the floor or kitchen counter of flour. I always try and work on my pasta sheets outdoors.

• Spread out dampen kitchen towel(s) on your exposed work surface

This helps to capture the lighter than feather flour and prevent it from drifting off further down to the floor.

• Spread out dampen flour mat(s) on the floor area where you will be standing to make pasta

This not only captures any fly away flour, it prevents your feet from transferring any floury debris to other areas of the kitchen.

Desserts you can make with leftover egg whites

Pavlova Gluten Free Dessert

Crisp exterior and a lovely melt in your mouth interior.

Chocolate Pavlova Gluten Free Dessert

Chocolate meringue with chocolate nuggets inside.

Fluffy Egg White Ricotta Sour Cream Pancakes

These remind me of a fast food chain's pancakes but much, much better tasting and way fluffier.

Chocolate Eaton Mess

Yum!

Pavlova With Whipped Cream Rhubarb Swirls And Slivers Of Sugar Frosted Winter Melon

Sour, sweet plus creamy is always a good combination.

WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?                                                

The recipe for the sauce and cheeses that goes into the lasagne and how to assemble so that the dish is lovely and moist.

Personalised Butter Rolls For Easter

Hi! I'm now working from Wordpress. I've edited this post there, reformatted it so that it is much easier to read & follow my recipe. This link will take your directly to the recipe:

Personalised Butter Rolls For Easter

Link to my newest and old recipes, click:

https://kitchenbaroness.wordpress.com/

These buttery rolls also serve as 'place cards'. Personalised them by affixing the initials of your guests.

Initially, I wanted the rolls to look like the head of bunnies with pointy ears but then decided that these tear drop shapes would match better with my more subtle yet graceful table setting for this Easter. 

The fun 'pointy bunny ears' bread rolls would be better suited for a cheery colourful table setting, complete with dyed eggs in an assortment of merry colours. Well, maybe next year. This year I will go with understated elegance in calming whites, sage and greens. What's your Easter table going to look like?

Scroll down to 'Tips' for a selection of Easter breads to consider baking and to view my Easter table from 2015.

PERSONALISED BUTTER ROLLS FOR EASTER                

Prep:	25 minutes
Cook:	~15 minutes
Inactive:	First rising: Approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour or until dough almost doubles in volume Second rising: Approximately 30 minutes or until dough almost doubles in volume
Level:	Moderately easy
Makes:	8 butter rolls
Oven Temperature:	360F (180C)
Can recipe be doubled?	Yes
Make ahead?	Dough can be made the night before and refrigerated. Baked rolls taste best fresh.

Just the ingredients 3 and 1/2 cups (1.04 lbs) (472.5 g) bread flour  1 and 3/4 teaspoons fast-acting or instant dried yeast 1 Tablespoon sugar 3/4 teaspoons salt 1/2 cup milk 5 Tablespoons (2.5oz) (70g) unsalted butter  1/2 cup water  1 egg  For inserting into bread dough 8 raw eggs in their shells For brushing 6 Tablespoons (3oz) (85g) melted unsalted butter

Ingredient

3 and 1/2 cups (1.04 lbs) (472.5 g) bread flour 

1 and 3/4 teaspoons fast-acting or instant dried yeast
I use the brand, SAF Instant.

1 Tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup milk

5 Tablespoons (2.5oz) (70g) unsalted butter 

1/2 cup water 

1 egg 

For inserting into bread dough

8 raw eggs in their shells

For brushing

6 Tablespoons (3oz) (85g) melted unsalted butter

Directions

Scald the milk. That means to bring the milk almost to the boil. Once you see tiny bubbles around the circumference, add the unsalted butter, water and remove the pot from the burner to cool before using.

Add the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in your mixer bowl. Set aside.

When the milk+butter+water mixture has cooled enough not to scramble eggs, whisk in the 1 egg. Set aside.

Using a mixer

Start mixer at low speed to prevent the flour from flying out of bowl and all over the kitchen counter. Work up to medium speed gradually.

Gradually pour in the liquid mix (it should not be at all hot, warm is fine).

Let the machine run for 5 minutes on medium to medium-high speed.

The mixture should look somewhat sticky and not at all dry.

If the mixture does not seem to be coming together to form a dough, with the machine running, add 1 Tablespoon of milk and let the machine go at it for 1 minute. Work in more water the same way if required. 

After 5 - 10 minutes of machine kneading, the sides of the bowl should be relatively but not entirely cleaned of dough. The dough should look relatively smooth and feel slightly sticky to touch.

Stop the machine, scrape down the mixer bowl with a buttered dough scraper.  

With buttered hands, pinch off a small ball of dough. Stretch it. It should be easy to stretch. If not, it might need ~ 1 Tablespoon of milk and a little more machine kneading ~ 3 minutes.

Stop the machine, pinch off a small ball of dough and stretch it. If you can stretch it easily to a thin membrane before it tears, the gluten has developed sufficiently. 

Remove the dough from the mixer bowl.

Divide into 8 equal pieces. I usually get ~(3.5oz)(100g) pieces.

Form into a round balls. Tuck loose ends under the dough. 

Butter the tops to avoid them drying out. Cover and let them rise until almost double in size. Between 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Alternatively, refrigerate overnight in covered container.

Working dough by hand

Place dry ingredients on a flat working surface or in a very large bowl. Create a well in the centre of dry ingredients. 

Pour wet ingredients gradually into the well and work it in slowly into the dry ingredients. 

To start kneading, you have to work with pushing the dough out with the palm of your hand and pulling it back with your fingers.

At any point, if the dough is too dry or wet to work, you can add 1 Tablespoon of milk or flour and work it in completely before adding more milk or flour. The dough should be slightly sticky so do not over flour. Butter hands instead.

You know you are doing well when you find yourself working with a smooth elastic ball and it would still be a tad sticky.

Divide into 8 equal round balls ~(3.5oz)(100g) pieces, tuck loose ends under the dough. 

Butter the tops to avoid them drying out. Cover and let them rise until almost double in size ~45 minutes to 1 hour.

Alternatively, refrigerate overnight in covered container.

AFTER the first rise - time to shape

If dough was refrigerated overnight, remove from refrigerator ~ 1 hour before you are ready to bake so that it would be easier to shape and roll.

Flatten a dough ball gently to get rid of the air bubbles.

Roll into a log. Pinch the seams shut and tuck the ends in. 

To stretch the dough into a 16" (40cm) rope, with palms on the centre of the log, roll outwards, elongating the dough as you do so.

Set it aside, cover and move on to the remaining 7 balls of dough.

Once, you have completed rolling out the last dough ball, go back to the first dough that you worked on. Have the raw eggs nearby.

Bring the 2 ends of the 'rope' together. Twist the ends so that it looks similar to what is shown below.

Tuck one raw egg in the hole.

Do the same for the remaining 7 'ropes'.

Cover and let it rise a second time until almost double in size ~30 minutes. It should take half the time to rise compared to before.

Baking

Just before baking, brush the tops of the dough with melted unsalted butter.

Bake on the middle rack at 360F (180C).

After the first 10 minutes, turn tray and continue to bake for 5 minutes until golden brown.

Brush with melted unsalted butter, remove from tray, cool completely on wire rack.

To personalise

Simple really. 

• Buy alphabet stickers as I had and affix on eggs.
• Cut out alphabets from paper. Affix the alphabets with a little butter.
• Use a permanent marker (I use a food safe pen) and write names on slips of paper, affix with a smear of butter.

Tips

Easter Bread Suggestions & My Easter Table From 2015

• Easter Bread Suggestions

I can't decide which other Easter bread I should bake for Easter. I love them all but I am leaning towards my Greek easter bread Tsoureki because it has the unique flavour of mastic in it, a spice which I have to make a special order for as it's not readily available. This bread pulls apart almost like cotton candy. No mastic? Substitute with anise extract.

My Russian Easter bread, Kulich with it's cream cheese like accompaniment, Pashka is also wonderful to eat. I make it rather often but I simplify it by baking it in long loaves and not into tall cylindrical shapes. It is a very rich and sweet bread studded with dried tangerine peel, sultanas and nuts. Sometimes, I bake them just to make Bread and Butter Pudding!

The Easter bread that I grew up eating? Hot Cross Buns. Although the ones back then looked and tasted nothing like these yummy yummies.

Not too long ago, I baked this celebratory bread, my Eastern European inspired Poppy Seed Roll which could be served for Easter.

What's the simplest Easter bread that I have baked? It would have to be this Round Braided Babka, inspired by the homemakers of Eastern Europe. No nuts or fruits but still rich and soft with egg yolks, dairy and sugar aplenty.

• My Easter Table From 2015

The night before Easter, and as with any other party, I dress my table as much as I can. Even if lunch is not ready when guests arrive, one look at the dressed table and your guests will realise the efforts you have put in for them and that they are in for a treat- no one will be too flustered even if lunch was served later than you had planned. Just remember the drinks and a few nibbles!

WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?                                             
Now who doesn't like Lasagne? What more if it is made with home made pasta sheets? It can only mean soft pillowy sheets of pasta.

Braided Round Babka For Easter

Hi! I'm now working from Wordpress. I've spent a great deal of time editing and reorganising this post on Wordpress and it is so much friendlier to read & follow my recipe from there. Click on this link to take you directly to the recipe:

Braided Round Babka For Easter

Link to my newest and old recipes, click:

https://kitchenbaroness.wordpress.com/

This is a celebratory babka possibly at its simplest -no nuts or dried fruits. Still, it is a deeply enriched loaf of cake-like bread, generous with egg yolks, dairy and sugar.

I had been wanting to bake a babka very similar looking to the one above for a long time. I saw it on telly on Elisabeth Luard's documentary on Eastern European peasant food. 

A group of housewives were working on this huge vat (or maybe it was a trough) of babka dough for Easter. They worked on it relentlessly in a relay system of two, plummeting the impossibly sticky looking dough. There was a lot of dough so it took a long time to get it looking smooth and glossy.

The only woman to fatigue was the documentary host herself, Elisabeth, who could only work on the dough at half the speed as compared to the seasoned women around her. She took off her hat to their prowess and stamina as she collapsed into a heap exhausted whilst the woman continued to plummet away. It was amusing to watch all this unfold in the comforts of my cushy chair.

Then, there was the clever bit. Guess what was used for baking pans? The families' cooking pots! Why waste money on baking pans when you can just as easily use your everyday cooking pots as long as they were round, deep enough and did not have any combustible handles. 

The final product? Out of the oven, the women were pulling out these round pots of dark and glossy brown babkas with glorious crowns of braids. What a work of art -the skill of experience was evident, tight braiding that sat proudly in place. I need a life time of practise before I can ever get the braiding on my round babka that pretty.

If you have never adorned a braid on a base loaf, learn from my mistakes. 

• Only work on dough that have been well rested so that you do not create unnecessary tension. 
• Do not pull on the dough to braid.
• Always work on having a surplus length of braid. More is better than less if only to be assured that you have enough length to encircle the entire circumference of your baking vessel. Don't be tempted to pull the ends of the braid together to forcefully meet. What will happen is that the tension to the braid will cause it to separate as it bakes.
• Prepare any smaller size adornments you wish to add on the loaf only ~15 minutes before you are ready to bake. These smaller size adornment(s) need a shorter rising time. Prepared and placed on the base too early, they might over proof and split whilst baking -happened to me.

This babka, although sweet, goes very well with soft cheeses and ham. I was trying to replicate the babka I saw on telly and I do not recall any nuts or dried fruits being added so my recipe is a reflection of what I remember. I did add orange zest though as I do like the smell and taste of it in an Easter bread. 

When making sweet bread, I do not usually beat eggs and sugar together. However, I realised that a lot of sweet Eastern Europeans bread start off this way. Intrigued, I had a go. Taste and texturally, I could not detect any discernible difference in the baked babka. What was discernible was how much easier it was for my KitchenAid to work the dough into a smooth, pliable dough. So I am happy to beat eggs and sugar for my next Babka. 

This dough is very sticky and using a powerful standing mixer is ideal.

For other Easter bread ideas, please scroll down to look at some pretty looking Easter bread under my 'Tips' section.
BRAIDED BABKA FOR EASTER                                           

Prep:	30 minutes
Cook:	40 - 45 minutes
Inactive:	First rise: overnight in the refrigerator Second rise: ~1.5 - 2.5 hours
Level:	Moderate
Makes:	One 5"- 6" high, 8" in diameter round loaf.
Oven Temperature:	(350F) (175C)
Can recipe be doubled?	No
Make ahead?	Best fresh. Keeps well in air-tight container for 2 days. Freezes well.

Just the ingredients (15.23oz) (432g) (~3 and 1/5 cups) bread flour  1/2 teaspoon salt (4.22fl oz)(125ml) (~1/2 cup) milk (2.11oz) (60g) unsalted butter 2 and 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast 2 Tablespoons water 4 egg yolks (4.23oz) (120 g) (~1/2 cup) caster sugar 1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract ~1 Tablespoon orange zest from (~ 2 large oranges)

Ingredient

(15.23oz) (432g) (~3 and 1/5 cups) bread flour 

1/2 teaspoon salt

(4.22fl oz)(125ml) (~1/2 cup) milk

(2.11oz) (60g) unsalted butter

2 and 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

2 Tablespoons water

4 egg yolks

(4.23oz) (120 g) (~1/2 cup) caster sugar

1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

~1 Tablespoon orange zest from (~ 2 large oranges)

Method

The night before, prepare the dough.

Scald the milk. That means to bring the milk almost to the boil. Once you see tiny bubbles around the circumference, add the unsalted butter and remove the pot from the burner to cool before using.

Why scald? Scroll down to 'Tips' paragraph.

Stir the yeast into the 2 Tablespoons of water with a pinch of sugar. Leave it alone for 5 - 10 minutes to activate. It will foam and balloon so use an adequate size of a bowl.

Mix the salt into the bread flour. Set aside.

Using a standing mixer attached with the paddle attachment, beat egg yolks, sugar, vanilla extract and orange zest on medium-speed until light and creamy.

With the machine still running, add the yeast+water mix. 

Alternate adding the cooled milk+butter mix with the bread+salt mix.

After 10 minutes of machine mixing, you should have a glossy sticky dough. 

Stop the machine. Butter your hands, pull off a small ball of dough. Stretch it. It should not feel tight. If it does, add ~1 Tablespoon of milk and let the machine knead it for a few minutes. Recheck.

You should be able to stretch the dough easily without tearing. In fact, you should be able to stretch it to a thin translucent membrane before it tears.

Butter the container (with an air-tight lid) where you will be storing the dough for the night. 

With buttered hands and a buttered dough scraper, gather the dough and divide into 2 equal halves. 

Gather up one half into a ball, tuck loose ends under and place in the prepared container.

Divide the other half dough into 3 equal parts. Shape each into ball, tuck loose ends under and place in the prepared container.

Butter the exposed surface of the dough, cover container tight and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preparing the dough for baking

Remove dough from the refrigerator and leave it on the kitchen counter for 10 minutes or so. It will be easier to handle. The dough would not have double in volume. That's fine.

Have some flour nearby for dusting. Grease the 8" round baking vessel that you would be using for baking the loaf.  It should be at least 5"- 6" high. I use one of my round cooking pots with no combustible handles.

To start, work on the 3 smaller balls of dough. Dust your work surface lightly.

Take one of the three dough balls and roll into a 35" (75cm) sausage. You would most likely not be able to roll it at one go to that length - it's a long length to roll and stretch. I have to let the dough rest twice for 10 minutes each time. Cover with a tea towel and move on to the second and third pieces of dough. Always keep dough covered to avoid drying out.

When all 3 dough balls have been rolled out to 35" (75cm), keep them well covered under the tea towel (for at least 10 minutes before working on it). 

Move on to the last remaining larger ball of dough.

Dust your work surface lightly.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a circle to fit the base of the round baking vessel. As you roll, try to get rid of any air bubbles. I usually use a pair of scissors to burst those bubbles - it's more effective.

When the three logs of dough have had their 10 minutes of rest under the tea towel it would be time to braid them.

Start braiding from the centre. Do not stretch the dough as you braid. Instead keep your handling light, gentle and the braiding loose. If you do not, the overstretched braid will distort and not sit nicely on top of your base loaf which was exactly what happened to an earlier loaf.

After braiding from the centre down one length and neatening straggly ends by tucking them under, overturn the dough and start braiding from the centre down on the other end. 

Why overturn? So that you can braid it the same way (left to right or right to left) that you are used to. After braiding this end, do not tuck the ends under as yet. 

Fold the braid in half just to help you carefully transfer it to the top of the base loaf in the baking vessel.

Adjust the braid loosely around the circumference. Do not pull on the braid, you do not want any tension. Join the two ends, trimming excess braid off with scissors.

Let it rest and almost double in size. It usually takes 2 hours.

Traditionally, a crucifix or some other religious symbol made out of excess dough would top the surface of the bread.

If you intend to decorate the loaf further with these additional smaller pieces of dough, I suggest you only shape and top them on the dough 10-15 minutes before the dough is ready to go into the oven. The tinier your dough decorations, the less time they need to rise. Placed any earlier and your designs might over proof and split during baking.  That is what happened to my first loaf.

Just before baking brush with milk for a matt finish. If you want a very dark coloured loaf, brush with egg mixed with a little water.

Bake on the lower middle oven rack at 350F (175C). 

After the first 20 minutes of baking, place a sheet of aluminium foil over the loaf to avoid over browning. Bake a total for 40 - 45 minutes until a darker shade of brown. 

To test if loaf is baked, carefully overturn the loaf and tap the base. It should sound hollow. A thermometer inserted should read 195F.

If you want a darker coloured loaf, you could brush it with a little beaten egg diluted with a little water and return to the oven for 3 - 5 minutes which is what I had done.

If you want more of a gloss, brush some melted butter.

Remove from baking vessel and cool completely on a wire rack.

Tips

Why scald milk? 

A lot of the Old World recipes for sweet breads frequently ask for milk to be scalded. I always thought it was to make milk 'safe' or to speed up yeast activation.  I read enough to be intrigued and looked it up. To summerise, scalding milk alters the milk proteins that interfere with gluten development in bread. End result? A softer loaf with a higher rise. Now that I know this, I will be scalding my milk each time I intend to use it to bake bread.

Other Easter bread ideas

I can't decide which other Easter bread I should bake for Easter. I love them all but I am leaning towards my Greek easter bread Tsoureki because it has the unique flavour of mastic in it, a spice which I have to make a special order for as it's not readily available. This bread pulls apart almost like cotton candy. No mastic? Substitute with anise extract.

My Russian Easter bread, Kulich with it's cream cheese like accompaniment, Pashka is also wonderful to eat. I make it rather often but I simplify it by baking it in long loaves and not into tall cylindrical shapes. It is a very rich and sweet bread studded with dried tangerine peel, sultanas and nuts. Sometimes, I bake them just to make Bread and Butter Pudding!

The Easter bread that I grew up eating? Hot Cross Buns. Although those I had back then looked and tasted nothing like these yummy yummies.

What was my recent addition to celebratory bread? This Eastern European inspired Poppy Seed Roll which can be served for Easter.

WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?                                              
These are going to look so cute on my Easter table as individualised dinner rolls. I just need to neaten up the bunny ears a little. The eggs are not there merely to look pretty, they are going to be incorporated into my Easter lunch menu.