Wednesday Food Blogging

Sun-Dried Tomato Focaccia

Is it dinner time yet?

Just looking at this photo of Sun-Dried Tomato Focaccia makes me want to go bake another batch. The sweet tomatoes, the crunchy salt, the spongy warm bread...oh, how my mouth does water! But then it is dinner time. Too bad I ate the last piece.

It's so easy to make focaccia—easier to make than to spell. I used oil-packed tomatoes; if you use dried, you'll need to rehydrate them in boiling water first.

One C, then two.

Keep reading for directions...

Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Hot, gooey cinnamon rolls.

One more moment of decadence before the new year, I told myself this morning, tossing everything but the kitchen sink in these cinnamon rolls. Chocolate chips, brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon...all the good things in life. Plus a little whole wheat, just so you don't turn into a pillar of salt or anything.

With one extra girl in the house (Daughter Number Two's friend from the States) we had plenty of takers for these hot rolls. You could serve them with frosting drizzled over them, as pictured, or try maple syrup. Either way, they'll be gone before you can pour yourself a second cup of tea.

For directions, see below.

Lemony Poppy Seed Quick Bread

Thank goodness: Lemony Poppy Seed Bread

Thank goodness for Americans. They invented quick breads, after inventing baking powder, back in the nineteenth century. I guess they knew our twenty-first century lives would be too busy with our computers, phones, and other time-saving devices to make traditional slow breads.

However, before the Americans got around to inventing baking powder, a British man, Henry Jones, invented self-rising flour, except he called it self-raising flour. (He probably invented it in a laBORatry too.)

So, thank goodness for Henry Jones, whose self-raising flour is perfect for eggless quick breads. You can also use regular flour (plain, or all-purpose) with 2 teaspoons of baking powder plus another pinch of salt. Unless you have lots of self-rising flour to use up from the last thing you made.

In another lesson we'll discuss the history of lemons and poppy seeds. For now, here's a recipe for Lemon and Poppy Seed Quick Bread.