Two things for today...

Haven't really cooked anything special for the past week or so. We have eaten out, hubby has cooked, we have eaten leftovers and the kids are craving some yummy pudding so I have decided it's high time I make something! So today I have decided on making a filled bread plait.

For the bread you need:

330ml (1 1/3 cups + 2 extra teaspoons) warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
480g (3 cups) strong plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Place all ingredients into breadmaker in the order listed and use pizza or dough setting (it will only knead and prove the dough, it won't bake it).

When the cycle is finished, remove dough from bread pan, divide into two equal portions and place on floured baking trays. Roll out to fit the trays, place filling in the middle third of the dough, using a knife or pizza cutter cut slits as far as the filling as shown below.

(The filling I used in the pic below was chopped leftover tandoori chicken, Kiri cheese softened with a little yogurt and a sprinkle of mint added and grated Cheddar. Today I will probably use chopped mortadella, olives if I have some, chopped tomato and grated Cheddar or Gouda)

'Plait' the bread by drawing a piece of dough from the left, then the right, then left until you have finished, tuck the last couple of pieces in tidily.

Sprinkle with black seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds... whatever takes your fancy.

Leave to rise for about an hour and then bake at 350F until golden brown and hollow sounding.

Should come out looking something like this:

Note: The above method is for making the bread with instant yeast. Check the type of yeast that you have and check the instructions. If you have the yeast that comes in tiny balls, you will probably need to mix it with a little lukewarm water and some sugar to activate the yeast before adding it to your flour.

The pudding I am hoping to create is Nigella Lawson's Marshmallowy Chocolate Mousse that I found on Soulafa's Absolutely Delicious blog.

The ingredients are:

1+1/2 cups mini marshmallows

4 tablespoons( 1/2 stick) soft butter

9 oz best quality semisweet chocolate chopped into small pieces

1/4 cup hot water from a recently boiled kettle

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

It looks quite quick and easy to make... verdict will be from the kids later!

Update

Verdict: Didn't turn out very moussey but maybe that's because I'm not sure we have 'heavy double cream' here so I just used whipping cream which was perhaps too light.

Sadly the children found it much too rich and I'm told they prefer 'normal' chocolate pudding: the self-saucing type of chocolate cake pudding. Oh well! I tried!