Ever since I conquered my first loaf of perfect white bread I have been keen to branch out and try something else.  I wanted to really master the white loaf first.   

This is really such a simple dish, and lives in many places.  Also known as Egg in the Hole, Egg with a Hat or Gashouse Egg, this is a simple and filling dish that pleases people on many levels.  Essentially it is fried egg toast . . .  the unsophisticated sister of French toast . . .  or the country cousin to that old city mouse.


As simple as it is however, it is also capable of bringing delight to those who sit down to enjoy its pleasures.  I like to dress it up a bit . . . sophisticate it a little . . .  with a few additions.


Perhaps that is what makes this the "gangster" cousin of Egg in a Hole.  It is just a simple addition of some garlic powder and some hot chili flakes . . . 


But it works beautifully.  You get a nice slice of fried bread, with a tasty runny egg fried into the middle of it and that toasty little round of fried bread that you can slip on top like a hat.


No wonder children love it so much  . . . and with these simple additions grown ups can fall in love with it all over again.  Of course . . .


 That buttery crisp bread . . . the slight whiff and taste of the garlic.  You could use real garlic, but I find that the powdered garlic works just fine and you don't have to worry about it burning.  Burnt garlic has a bitter quality that is not very nice . . . the hardest part is timing the cooking of it so that the egg stays runny.  Yum!


Butter your slice of bread on both sides.  Using a sharp 2 inch round cutter, stamp out a hole in the centre. Reserve the hole for a bit later.  Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Lay the slice of bread in the centre and add a tiny knob of butter into the centre.  Once it begins to foam, crack the egg into the hole, taking care not to break the yolk.  Sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper, garlic powder and chili.  Flip over carefuly when the egg has begun to set and the bread has turned goldenbrown.  Add the bread hole to the pan. Season all with more sea salt, pepper, garlic powder and crushed red chili. Continue to cook until golden on the other side, taking care not to over cook the egg.  You want it to still be runny.  It will only take a few minutes. Also flip the bread hole over when it has browned and brown the other side. Serve the egg toast accompanied with the toasted bread cut out.



 Comfort food can't get any simpler or tastier than this!  It makes a lovely hearty breakfast, or you can make it into a lovely simple supper by adding a few rashers of bacon and a salad on the side.  I can't think of anyone who would turn their nose up at this.  Simply multiply the quantities to serve more.  You only need one slice of bread and one egg per person.  Fresh eggs are the best.  Bon Appetit!

When I was married before I had a husband who made beautiful bread.  When he was home he would crank out about 5 or 6 loaves a few times a week and it would all get eaten.  He was really good at it and the kids practically inhaled it.  He would make the kitchen table dance across the kitchen floor when he was kneading it.  He also made a huge mess, which I got to clean up, but I wasn't complaining because his bread was excellent and it was worth the price of cleaning up!



 I have never made good bread.  I am not sure why.   I gave up trying a long time ago, but lately I have been wanting to try again and have been searching for just the right recipe.  I do have a bread maker, which I could use, but I have been wanting to bake a loaf from scratch with my own two hands.  Just moi and nobody else.


I found a recipe the other day on the Brown Eyed Baker Blog called My Favourite White Bread.  It looked really good.  She got the recipe from someone's Grandmother. She doesn't say who, but she did say that it was such a good recipe that she was baking it a couple of times a week.


She was tempting me with her praise for this recipe. I went back and looked at the recipe a few times over the past few weeks, and then finally today, I printed it out and decided I was going to have a go at it!


I confess I did not follow her instructions exactly.  I did everything by hand.  Totally by hand.  I popped the LDS Music channel on and sat at the table and mixed and kneaded it all by hand.  It was very cathartic.


I kneaded it and I thought  . . .  I thought and I kneaded . . .  I listened to the dulcet tones of good music, and all the while I was channeling my mother earth insides . . .


I felt almost like Ma Ingalls . . .  seriously.  It rose like a dream with the first rising . . .  and then it rose like a dream with its second rising.  I didn't know whether I dared hope I would have some success or not  . . . I did cut the recipe in half as there are only two of us and I don't have enough room in my freezer for a loaf of bread  . . .


Colour me pleasantly surprised because I had tremendous success!  The loaf turned out perfect.  It is beautiful bread with a lovely taste and texture.  I was so happy!  I just might make it my goal to bake a loaf every week.  Todd was quite enthusastic about the results and we are both looking forward to sitting down tonight to a slice of fresh white bread with butter and strawberry jam for our supper.  Diabetes be damned!



3 TBS melted butter, for brushing


Dissolve the yeast in the 178ml (3/4 cup) of warm water, stirring.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Add the remaining water, sugar, salt, room temperature butter and 625g (5 cups) of the flour, stirring to combine.  Using a wooden spoon stir in the remainder of the flour a little bit at a time until the dough is soft and tacky, but not sticky.  Continue to knead until a soft ball of dough forms that clears the side of the bowl. This will take about 10 minutes.  Not a problem. Just put some music on that you love listening to and lose yourself in the music as you knead.  Shape into a smooth ball and place in a lightly greased bowl.  Cover with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm draft free place for  45 minutes to 1 hour until the dough has doubled in size.  I finger inserted into the dough should leave a hole that doesn't fill back in.  Tip out onto a lightly floured surface.  Gently press all over to remove any air pockets.  Divide the dough into two.  Pat each half into a 9 by 12 inch rectangle.   Working from the short edge, roll tightly into a cylinder.  Pinch any seams shut and tuck in the ends.  Generously grease two  9 by 5 inch loaf tins.  Place the cylinders of dough into them seam side down.  Cover loosely and place into a draft free place to rise, once again until doubled in size.  30 to 45 minutes.
Brush the loaves with some melted butter.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating it halfway through the bake time until the loaves are golden brown all over and the bottom sounds hollow when lightly tapped.  Let stand for 10 minutes, tip out onto a wire rack and turn right side up, brush with the remaining melted butter and allow to cool completely before slicing.  Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.  Alternately it can be frozen for up to one month.

If you are looking for a really good bread recipe that is simple to make then look no further.  This one is a winner!  If I can have success with it, then anyone can!  Bon Appetit!

 Todd is not overly fond of eating raw apples, but if you cook an apple, he is the first in line wanting to tuck  in!  He just loves baked apple desserts.   I had about half a jar of mincemeat that needed using up  in the refrigerator and I also had some apples that had seen better days as well as about 1/3 of a loaf of stale bread.   I decided to use all three and make a Betty with them.

I normally like to pull out the stops at the weekend and cook us something special for breakfast.  Normally during the week we have only toast and/or cereal, saving anything larger for Saturday or Sunday.   This is a bank Holiday here in the UK this weekend and so I decided that I would make us some French Toast for our Saturday breakfast . . . and not just any French Toast . . .  but  . . . Cinnamon French Toast Batons.

I was recently sent a lovely Hamper from the people at Baking Mad and challenged to bake myself a loaf of bread!  I have a real fear of baking with yeast.  Most of the time (even when I use the bread machine) my bread turns out lousy!  I kid you not!  My ex husband was a beautiful bread baker.  He baked all of our bread when he was home.  It was lovely.   Me . . .  I have always only ever made great door stops.

I have a husband who is not particularly fond of Pizza . . .  or pasta as you know.  He says he hate Italian food . . .  but he really just means he hates Pizza and pasta . . .  I keep reminding him that Italians eat a lot more than that!  Bake a pizza in a cake tin, and call it a tart and he is quite happy to eat it however.  A woman has to do what a woman has to do.  ☺

I do so love my computer.   Having a computer has added such a special dimension to my life.  I have met some really special people via this medium and been able to experience a lot of really wonderful things that I might not have had I not been the owner of a computer and the author of several blogs!   



I have always stored my photos on photobucket and pay a hefty price for the priviledge.   That is where I keep all of my food photos and normally it's worked very well for me . . . until a couple of days ago.  I literally have not been able to get the site to load for me, which is very frustrating for me as almost all of my food photos are on there, and I can't get at them!  Grrrrrr!!!!  I am really hoping and praying it is a temporary blip!   



Anyways, all of the recipes and reviews I have in my queue to post will have to wait until I can get access to my photos and I am really hoping that will be soon, or else I will be spitting feathers . . . and trust me, you do not want to see that!  It ain't pretty! 



Thankfully I had the wherewithall to upload a few photos to my google account the other day and so I can show you this fab recipe here today.  It's like a type of strata . . . a bread and egg pudding, sort of like a savory bread pudding. 



They make excellent use of stale bread and other bits.   The other day I decided to make it like a BLT sandwich and it worked out fabulous!  This was soooooo tasty. 



I simply made some sandwiches with some stale bread, filling them with crumbled bacon, grated cheddar, finely sliced leeks and some slices tomatoes . . . place them into a baking dish and then poured a savoury egg custard mix over top.   



It was so delicious and went down a real treat with a nice mixed salad with a French Vinaigrette.   Super duper  tasty!  I love that it was also quite thrifty and I made good use of a stale loaf of French bread, and a few other bits that needed using.  I love it when that happens! 




(You will need at least 14 slices)
1 pint of whole milk (2 cups)
salt and pepper to taste 






Butter a 10 inch glass pie dish.

Spread each slice of the bread thickly with butter on one side only. Mix together the sliced leeks, grated cheese and crumbled bacon.  Divide 3/4 of this mixture between half of the slices on the unbuttered sides.   Top each with two half moons of tomato. Place another slice of bread, buttered side up on top.  Cut in half and place into the pie dish cut side down, to fill the dish.  Sprinkle with the remainder of the cheese mixture.

Beat the eggs together with the mustard  and milk.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Pour over top of the sandwiches.  Allow to stand for half an hour before cooking so that it can absorb as much as possible.

Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.  Bake the pudding in the heated oven for about 45 minutes, until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean.  Allow to stand for about 10 minutes before cutting into wedges to serve.   A salad goes nice with this. 

Here's hoping that photo bucket is working tomorrow!   



I am so excited to be able to tell you this morning that I have finally finished my fourth Cookbooklet.  Entitled Recipes to Keep it is a little goldmine of my all time favourite recipes, the ones that I turn to again and again, indeed my family favourites, gleaned from a lifetime of cooking for my family and loved ones.

40 pages containing over 40 new, never before posted recipes from my big blue binder that contain some of my all time favourites.  Recipes such as Cindy's Portuguese Gumdrop Cake ( a must for our Christmas larder each year for over 20 years!) , Runny Butter Tarts (a fail proof recipe I have been using for over 30 years for the best butter tarts you could want to eat), Onion Patties (who needs to go to all the faff of making onion rings when you can just drop them as simple patties!), The Best Ever Tomato and Meat Sauce, and a whole lot more.  Destined to become your family favourites too . . . in short, recipes to keep.

It's available now as a PDF Download, mailed right to your home, and at the same low price as all of my other cookbooklets.  You will find the link up there on underneath my header on the page called Cookbooklets!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!