Home made bread - without a bread maker

I’ve always wanted to learn how to make bread. And so I put that into my 2015 resolution to LEARN how to make bread. My first attempt was at making a loaf of plain white bread. I modified the recipe from the following link:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCQqWeGmG08

 

Banana cookies

Well, well, there were still a few bananas left, so I decided to make some cookies. 

This is a very simple and easy to make cookie, but be warned that the texture is cake-like and is therefore not crunchy nor hard. They should turn out moist and chewy.

The recipe is taken from http://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/2014/02/11/moist-chewy-banana-oatmeal-cookies/ 

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Yield: makes 34-36 cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup mashed bananas

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp cornstarch

3 cups old fashioned oats

Instructions

1. Mix together butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg, vanilla extract and mashed bananas until well 

combined.

2. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves and cornstarch and mix until combined.

3. Stir in oats.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5. Spoon tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Flatten dough a little bit, into thick discs. They will spread a little when baked.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges just start to golden.

7. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes, then move to cooling rack to finish cooling.

2 versions of banana cake

The banana tree finally yielded some fruits for me. I waited for the bananas to ripen, in fact to be over-riped and tried my hand at making some banana cakes.

This is simply called mum's banana cake. I used the recipe from this website:-

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/17052/mum-s-banana-cake.aspx

Although the cake did not look like my idea of a cake, it was yummy. I guess it's due to the fact that the recipe calls for a shallow baking tin.



The following day I made another banana cake, this time using a recipe from a Malaysian:-

http://inibelogcikgusuraya.blogspot.com/2013/11/resepi-kek-pisang-mudah-dan-sedap.html

I believe this is the easiest banana cake recipe you can ever find! 

Oven baked naan

13 days into the new year and some people sent me emails asking where I've been hiding. Well, to be honest, I've been trying to make naan on my own, without a proper tandoor, just using the modern day oven that we have at home. Well, the result was good!

Here's the recipe that I used from http://bhavnaskitchen.com/naan/ . I must admit that I did not use ghee. I substituted is with normal vegetable oil.