JOANNA'S FOOD: family cooking, from scratch, every day


Sunday, December 07, 2008

Frying pan bread



















I've made all the bread we've eaten in this house this year. Occasionally there's a crisis when I forget, or when appetites are larger than I think they will be. Those days, I either make soda bread, or this frying pan bread. It's not perfect, but it's better than going out shopping. Shamingly, I've had to make it this morning (absent-mindedness last night).

Emergency frying pan bread

Mix a soft dough from self-raising flour and water, with a little salt. You can use plain flour, or strong bread flour, but I find you get a slightly lighter result with self-raising. Flatten into a round and fry lightly on both sides in a little oil.

It's not perfect, but it's what we do. Does anyone have a better "instant bread" recipe?



















We ate our flatbread with a stew made from a tiny bit of leftover tomato salad and a small box of mushrooms simmered for a few minutes until everything was cooked through. Much nicer than plain mushrooms, and a good use for the spoonful or so left in the bottom of a bowl overnight. A very good breakfast, even though you can't make toast.


Incidentally, I blitzed the leftover wedge with a handful of parsley, some mushroom stalks, a couple of anchovies and some lemon juice. I put this into an ovenproof dish, and it's going to be a stuffing / forcemeat to go with a very small joint of lamb which has suddenly had to stretch to feed to extra mouths. (Delicious: the lemon juice made it; some zest would have been even better.)

The frugal kitchen produces delicious food, full of different tastes.




Related posts

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Bread knots - another simple way to make beautiful and delicious rolls, using this dough, or your default dough

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make your own sourdough starter

No-knead bread the famous NY Times recipe
Speeded-up no-knead bread and a different take on it

Yoghurt bread fabulous, easy, TRY IT
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Spelt bread - it's getting easier to buy this highly-flavoured flour

Fresh corn bread - now is the perfect autumnal moment for this
Late summer hearth bread - another perfect autumn bread, this one with grapes

Anti-oxidant tea bread - I made this for my husband for a pre-surgery boost - delicious, too!

Yeast conversion - fresh/dried/quick


Things to do with stale or leftover bread

Panzanilla
Herb stuffing for roast chicken
Grilled trout with rosemary stuffing
Baked scallops
Anchovy toasts

Links to the best blogging bakers I know

Tanna at My Kitchen in Half Cups
A Year in Bread
Susan at Farmgirl Fare

this list is not exhaustive, there are dozens of wonderful blogging bakers

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

How simple is that?

To answer your question: no, I don't have a better recipe. I'm going to try yours.

Joanna said...

Thanks ... I'd be very interested to hear how you get on with it, what you think, whether there are ways you find to improve it (it's fine, but it's not perfect!)

Joanna

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Wooooo, this is a new look here!
I am in love with your stove!
Emergency foods are a god send. I'm happy to break bread with you any day.

Anonymous said...

I love the new look and envy your your stove.

The bread looks good too.

Ellie said...

Your blog is looking lovely! Also I love the photo at the top.....Makes me jealous at how much warmer the kitchen must be than mine!
Speak soon
xx

Joanna said...

Thanks Tanna, Toffeeapple, E for kind words ... I'm still just using a basic template, but I got bored of the old one

The stove is wonderful, lots of work but wonderful (and, yes, I dare say the kitchen here IS warmer than yours, E ... but that would be a first!)

Joanna

Jeanne said...

How clever! My quick bread recipes are more of the "mix together, bung in pan and bake" variety, more often than not using beer as the raising agend with no kneading or proofing :)