The bread episode of The Great British Bake Off is notoriously difficult. Every season, contestants struggle to capture that perfectly crunchy crust with a light and fluffy interior. For something with so few ingredients, bread can be extremely finicky. Just one wrong move and you’ll be left wishing you’d never started. As one example, if it’s undercooked it can wind up doughy and inedible. But fear not! With this short recipe and a dash of patience, you’ll soon have your very own freshly baked bread to enjoy.
This recipe is adapted from Edna Staebler’s “Neil’s Harbour White Bread” from her book Food That Really Schmecks.
The Ingredients
1 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon white sugar
2 tablespoons yeast
2 cups lukewarm water
1⁄2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1⁄2 cup canola oil, or substitute vegetable oil
8 cups all-purpose flour
Part One — Making the dough
Part Two — Proving yourself
Once you’ve finished kneading the dough, it needs a chance to rest and rise—also known as proving. To do this, place the dough in a large bowl that’s been lined in oil. Flip the dough to cover both sides in oil. Loosely cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave it to prove in a warm spot for 1-2 hours or until it has doubled in size. Leaving it by a sunny window is generally your best bet. Here is a trick to know when you’re ready to move to the next step: when you stick your finger in the dough, your imprint should remain.
Punch the dough down until it has deflated a bit, and divide into 4 equal-sized loaves. Place the loaves onto parchment-lined sheet pans and let rise for another hour in the same sunny spot, covered in a damp tea towel. Make sure to leave room between the loaves.
While you’re waiting for the dough to rise, go enjoy spring days that will hopefully be here soon. You could go for a hike, grab coffee with a friend or maybe catch up on the Netflix show you’ve been binging. Better yet, invite someone over for a date and impress them with your incredible baking skills. You could even make the dough before class and then finish it when you get home.
While you’re waiting for the dough to rise, go enjoy spring days that will hopefully be here soon. You could go for a hike, grab coffee with a friend or maybe catch up on the Netflix show you’ve been binging. Better yet, invite someone over for a date and impress them with your incredible baking skills. You could even make the dough before class and then finish it when you get home.
Part Three — Let’s get this bread
Take the same four loves on the parchment-lined pans and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-30 minutes, until both the top and bottom of the loaves are golden, and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. After you’ve removed your loaves from the oven, let them cool on a rack. This is the hardest part, but trust me, if you try to eat it right away you’re going to burn your tongue.
Voilà! You now have four delicious loaves of bread, perfect for any kind of sandwich you can think of. If you try this recipe, make sure to tag the Silhouette, we would love to see your baking adventures!
Voilà! You now have four delicious loaves of bread, perfect for any kind of sandwich you can think of. If you try this recipe, make sure to tag the Silhouette, we would love to see your baking adventures!
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Rachel Katz often shares her cooking and baking with other people. After a time, people began to tell her that she should start a food blog. While Katz decided a blog would be too much to handle whilst being a full-time graduate student, she figured Instagram would be a manageable platform. So last summer while she was working one job and had relatively free evenings, she started her food Instagram, Fork in Progress.
On the account, Katz shares photos of the recipes that she’s tried. Unlike many other food accounts, her unfiltered photos project accessibility and make anyone scrolling feel like they could get in their kitchen and make the same meal.
The recipes that Katz tries are not necessarily easy, but she believes basic kitchen confidence can be applied to make more complicated recipes. She looks for recipes with very specific instructions that she can follow along with. She also looks for versatile recipes that she can add her own flavours to. In her captions, she highlights her innovations and provides tips.
One benefit to Instagram for her is the interactivity. It is easy for her followers to ask her questions and provide feedback. The platform also makes it possible for her to share step-by-step videos that break down the recipes into easier steps. This is to prove to people that anyone can learn how to cook delicious dishes.
“I was frustrated with a lot of students… saying ‘oh I have no time to cook’ or ‘I don't like cooking’… [But] food is so important, food is delicious and there's a kind of pride that you get from making your own food that you don't really get from anything else,” Katz said.
Katz understands how difficult balancing food with student life can be. The McMaster grad lived in residence in her first year where the meal plan limited the choice she had over what she ate. In her second year, she shared a six-person student house with a tiny kitchen. In both years, she didn’t feel like she had a fully functional space where she can cook her own meals.
For Katz, this resulted in patterns of disordered eating. In her second year, she committed to recognize these patterns in herself so she can create healthier eating habits. Preparing her own meals has been one tool in repairing Katz’s relationship with food.
In her third year, Katz moved into a two-person apartment with a nice kitchen. In her new kitchen, Katz explored cooking more. Working at the Silhouette also encouraged her as she began to regularly bake for the office. This practice allowed her to receive feedback on her food and grow as a baker.
“I don't use words like clean… or like detox, cleanse… [T]here are all of these other food bloggers out there who use those lines and a lot of recipe bloggers who have these crazy extravagant recipes. But there wasn't really anyone to fulfill the student niche for people who wanted to cook actual meals but didn't really know where to start,” Katz explained.
While developing a healthy relationship with food is important to Katz, food is also a tool that she uses in her relationships with others. Cooking is an activity that she likes to do with family and friends. Her food-related memories stretch all the way back to her childhood.
Katz grew up eating a lot of homemade meals. She is inspired by her mother, who is an accomplished home chef and baker. Not only does she adore the chocolate chip cookies that she grew up eating, but she also admires her mother’s diligence. Her mother can spend months trying to perfect a recipe.
Now an adult, Katz is making her own food memories, many of which include food she’s made for others. For her, cooking for people is a way of shaping their experiences for the better. By making a caramel corn cake for her partner’s birthday, she was able to make the day more memorable. When she makes her mother’s birthday cake this year, she will make that day more special.
However, as the name of her account indicates, Katz is still growing her skills in the kitchen. She wants her followers to continue learning, experimenting and trying new things.
“[H]aving a name that has associations of things that are not quite perfect, that I'm still learning but it doesn't mean that I don't know anything, I think… that embodies the mentality that I'm hoping I can encourage people to take with food and feeding themselves,” said Katz.
For this reason, Katz is not focused on monetizing Fork in Progress, as she and her followers operate within a student budget, she does not want to promote products that are inaccessible. While she would consider a column in a publication, she believes the account can only remain authentic by staying fairly small.
As long as she’s a student, Katz wants to continue spreading positive messages about food and cooking. She wants Fork in Progress to show students that they can make their own cakes and eat them too.
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Many of us don’t need to be reminded that there’s only a few days left before exam season starts, but we might need a reminder to make time for a nice home cooked meal. It’s easy to turn to buying lunch or dinner when you’re tight on time during these next few weeks, but there are ways to make cooking an enjoyable experience while relieving some stress too.
The Sil staff have compiled their favourite recipes that are easy to make, especially when you’re short on time. We encourage you to try them out, change up the ingredients and most importantly, take the time to take care of yourself this season.
Shared by Sasha Dhesi (Managing Editor)
Pasta is a staple batch recipe since it’s fairly easy, delicious and lasts the whole work week. While most people don’t have time to make homemade pasta, students don’t have to rely on jarred sauces and compromise their time.
Making a sauce at home can seem challenging, but simple recipes like this one are great for students low on time and on a budget.
I adapted this recipe from Bon Appetit’s Bucatini with Butter-Roasted Tomato Sauce. I replaced a few of the more expensive ingredients with more accessible, easier kept items that make more sense for students to keep around in the house. The recipe should make about four servings and take about 40 minutes, but only 20 of those minutes are active! This is a great recipe to make while studying at home — just pop the sauce into the oven and you’ll have a great sauce in no time!
Shared by Hannah Walters-Vida (Features Reporter)
In an effort to describe how good this soup is, the most a room full of Sil writers could come up with is “warm, warm soup, it hugs you from the inside”. Pretty much everyone in the office will agree that this is a great recipe for soup. I typically double the recipe and freeze the soup in mason jars for when I need a quick, filling meal.
This recipe is originally by Jennifer Segal and I made a few modifications to make it vegan friendly. This recipe yields 8 servings and takes about 45 minutes to make, but most of the time is spent letting the soup simmer. This soup can stay fresh in the freezer for up to 3 months, so it’s worth the investment in time. Just make sure to pop it into the fridge the day before wanting to reheat it!
Shared by Razan Samara (Arts & Culture Editor)
This is my go-to recipe for dinner with friends and potlucks. It also makes for a perfect side dish alongside lunch or dinner, I personally think it pairs really well with chicken tawook tacos and panko-breaded fish. This recipe yields about 3-4 servings and was inspired by Cookie and Kate.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve found myself become quite reliant on this recipe. It requires minimal effort, which means I can throw a whole batch together pretty quickly the night before my early morning commutes. This recipe has filling ingredients, can easily travel and can be modified to meet your taste preferences. I encourage you to keep things new and interesting with every rendition of the dish!
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[button link="https://www.thesil.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/In-the-kitchen-with-Grant-Whittaker.pdf" color="orange" newwindow="yes"] Print recipe here![/button]
[spacer height="20px"]This mushroom ragù recipe is multi-purposeful and versatile. While simple to make, it looks and tastes decadent and earthy. Mushroom ragù is traditionally prepared as a main course and paired with chicken, pork or beef but this recipe calls for a vegetarian twist. It can also make a great appetizer served with toasted points or crostini.
Any variety of cheese will work well for topping the dish, including parmesan, goat, blue or cream cheese. The Hamilton Farmers’ Market and other local grocers carry a great selection of tofu cream cheese if you choose to make this dish vegan. Use your imagination and garnish with fresh herbs like chives, thyme and parsley or serve with a simple arugula salad dressed with olive oil and lemon.
The entire dish is easy to prepare in under 45 minutes but it’s packed with flavour, making it an impressive dish to serve.
Rocking a black bandana with the well-derived title ‘chef’ written out in boldface, Whittaker can be found behind his Best on Bread counter at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market making a mean slow roasted porchetta for market-goers and catering clients. With twenty years of experience, Whittaker started off learning recipes at an Italian restaurant in his youth, became head chef at wineries in Grimsby and Niagara and served quite a storm in some of Hamilton’s favourite food trucks. He incorporates his taste for decadent ingredients into everything he cooks up, making even the simplest of dishes reminiscent of a fine dining experience.
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By: Nick Sahlollbey
Exams are around the corner. For most students, this generally means a few intensive weeks of early morning and late-night study sessions, high levels of stress, low levels of energy and repeated thoughts of dropping out. This behaviour is often exacerbated by hunger, so for your health and well-being during these hard times, you’re going to need to ensure you keep your belly full and your mind focused.
Hummus is a quick and easy snack that you can add to just about anything. Fortunately, it’s almost as easy to make as it is to eat. This article will provide an easy recipe to follow for students in need of a pick-me- up snack over the next few weeks.
To get started, you will need a can of chickpeas, olive oil, salt, cumin, garlic and lemon juice. Optionally, you can add tahini, a sesame paste that can be bought or made by blending sesame seeds, oil and salt.
While some prefer to leave it out, others love the zest and deep flavour that tahini adds. I’ve even had friends that claim that adding tahini can make the hummus taste like you’re eating a burrito (in a good way) so I highly suggest using it.
And that’s it, you’ve made hummus. If you like, top it up with some olive oil, paprika, and even hot sauce if you’re a spice lover. The lemon juice and salt have preserving effects and will ensure that your hummus will stay good for a couple of weeks in the fridge.
Unlike ranch and guacamole, hummus is a versatile food which can be eaten in many ways. Most commonly, hummus is spread over bread. Try cutting you pita bread into chips and slightly toasting them to get crunchy bread you that you can dip in your hummus. Feeling bold? Try mixing your hummus into your mashed potatoes and topping it off with a touch of sour cream. Hosting a party? Make a chip dip by throwing a layer of cheese and letting it melt in the oven. Top this up with a layer of sour cream and shredded lettuce.
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By: Jennifer Bacher
The turkey has been carved, the stuffing unstuffed, and your parents have given you the gift of Thanksgiving leftovers. Your fridge is filled with Tupperware with no end in sight, and all you can think to yourself is “What to do with all this poultry and canned cranberry jelly?” Well, lucky for you here are a few ideas that will give new life to your leftovers.
Thanksgiving Day Panini
This recipe is pretty straightforward but tastes delicious. You will need a Panini bun and all of your leftovers.
1. Cut open your Panini bun down the middle
2. Layer your leftovers; mashed potatoes, turkey, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce.
3. Squish and press the filled Panini on a Panini press (alternatively you can toast your sandwich or grill on a BBQ but a press yields the best results)
4. Once the top is toasted and definite toast lines are present, the sandwich is ready
Thanksgiving Leftover Soup
This recipe takes a bit more effort and requires a few more ingredients than the last, but is worth it. Depending on how many vegetables you would like in the soup, you may add them all or only a few.
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and flour together until smooth. Add the stuffing and mix until well combined; cover and reserve. This will be your dumpling mixture.
In a pot heat the oil over medium heat and add the chopped onion and garlic. Cook until soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the sliced carrots, celery and broth. Bring to a simmer until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
Roll tablespoons of the dumpling mixture into balls with wet hands. Make sure that the dumplings can hold their shape (if the dumpling dough is too soft to roll, add flour a teaspoon at a time until it is firm) and drop into the simmering soup; cook until dumplings float, 3-4 minutes. Gently stir in the turkey meat and simmer until heated through. Serve immediately.
Both of these recipes will keep for a few days but are best enjoyed fresh. The soup can be frozen immediately then reheated when needed. I hope these new takes on leftovers will help to keep your love of turkey alive. And keep in mind, there’s only 75 days until Christmas!
Ingredients What You’ll Need
4 tablespoons flour Large Microwavable Mug
4 tablespoons sugar Measuring Spoons
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
1 dash vanilla extract
Instructions
Add dry ingredients to a large, microwave-safe mug and mix well.
Add the egg, milk and oil. Mix well.
Add the chocolate chips and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
Review
This quick and easy dessert will be ready to eat in less than five minutes! With simple ingredients and a short cooking time, this is the perfect treat for anyone with a microwave (or residence kitchen). The delicious aroma of soft, warm cake will have people falling into your kitchen. It can be split between two people, but that’s up to your generosity.
For a touch of decadence, drizzle with caramel sauce or whipped cream.
Need to impress your family, significant other, or just want a gourmet side dish? Inspired by yasai no nikumaki, the Japanese bento staple, these veggie sirloin rolls are quick, healthy, and make you look like a fancy chef.
These rolls are easy to eat, and the cut sides are colourful and pretty. Hotpot sirloin beef is preferred, but if you can’t make your way to an Asian supermarket, shaved beef steak (the kind you use for cheeseteaks) will work as well.
Wash and peel the carrot and celery. Cut the vegetables in strips so that they look like matchsticks. Rinse the enoki mushrooms and cut off the roots.
In a skillet, heat olive oil, ginger, and garlic on medium heat. Add the celery and carrot and cook for 1.5 minutes. Add enoki mushroom, a splash of chicken stock, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the mushrooms are soft. Take the pan off the element and let it cool.
Place a small pile of vegetables (about the diameter of a small glue stick on a slice of the hotpot sirloin beef. Carefully roll the beef, tucking the vegetables in. Stop when there’s about an inch of beef to be rolled.
In a small bowl, make a corn starch solution (stir 1 part starch and 2 parts water). Brush a dab of the corn starch mixture on the remaining beef to be rolled. Complete the roll (the starch acts to seal the roll).
In a non-stick pan, melt some butter. Carefully place a roll in the pan, turning it after around 20 seconds. The beef is quite thin, so it’ll cook quickly. Cook maximum six rolls at a time to minimize overcooking and breaking the roll.
Place the cooked rolls on a plate. To complete, drizzle wasabi dressing (store-bought or home-made) over the rolls.
