Monday 13 January 2020

Pesto Flower

For a change, no pictures of trees or sunlit clouds today, but a recipe.

O.K. and I celebrated New Year's Eve with my parents and my sister. We had a buffet meal with hot soup and most of the other items made or prepared by our Mum, but us guests also brought something along.

Our contribution was a "pesto flower", a kind of bread that was supposed to look pretty on the buffet and go well with most of the other things on offer. I found the recipe in a free booklet from Aldi's.

You need:
  • 600 g flour
  • 40 g yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 50 ml olive oil
  • 300 ml warm (not hot!) water
  • pesto
  • 1 egg

Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, oil and water and let the dough rest in a warm place for about an hour.

Separate the dough into 3 pieces and let them rest for about another 1/4 hour.
Roll out each piece to a circle about 2 mm thick.
Preheat the oven to 160 C (with air circulation) or 180 C (if your oven does not have circulation).

Spread your baking tray with baking paper and put the first circle on it.


Spread 2 to 3 tablespoons of pesto on it. Don't worry, a thin spreading will do well - I went a bit over the top there!


Repeat with the second circle and cover with the third circle (no pesto on the top one).

Put a small round glass or cup as a place holder right in the middle of the three circles.
Cut from there in four equal parts, then each part into four narrower segments, so that it looks like a sun or flower.


Then take two segments or strips next to each other and twist against each other, pressing the ends firmly together. Repeat until all 16 strips are turned into 8 "petals" of your "flower".


Whisk one egg and spread on the flower.


Bake for about 25 minutes.



This was our first attempt, and next time, we'll know better how to twist the segments so that the flower will look more like the one in the original picture. 



Also, my dough did not rise as expected; I don't know whether it was the yeast (not fresh but powdered) or the resting place was not warm enough (O.K.'s theory).
Anyway, I probably would not have managed to get a reasonably good result without O.K.'s help.  

It was nice enough, and we can imagine this working well with other types of savoury spread, too. The recipe suggests to make a sweet variation of the dough and use a filling of nuts, sugar and cinnamon; I guess that would work well, too.

23 comments:

  1. How pretty! I'm sure you could use other spreads besides pesto, too. Also, I love your fox tea towel.

    Thanks for the recipe!

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    1. You are welcome, Jennifer. Yes, other spreads or a mix of, say, sour cream and bacon would probably work just as well.
      My fox tea towel is cute, isn't it! It is actually from a children's kitchen set I found two years or so ago at Aldi's :-)

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  2. How festive and pretty it is! I don't think I could do it with gluten free flour but I suppose I could try it! I think you did a great job on the one that you made. I also like the fox tea towel and what is that red and white polka dot in the background? Is it a cover for a toaster or the toaster itself? Love a pop of red here and there. xx

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    1. Thank you, Kay! I don't see why it wouldn't work as a gluten free variety; can you make gluten free yeast dough?
      The polka dot thing is my toaster. My coffee machine is of the same red, but without the dots. The covers of my kitchen chair are also red (one with dots, one without).

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    2. Gluten free is a tricky thing but I can always give it a try!
      And I do love that polka dot toaster! I shall think of you using it when you tell us you have your toast for breakfast, sitting on your kitchen chair, either the solid red or the polka dot one! :-)

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  3. What a brilliant idea for a buffet table. I also enjoyed seeing the fox on the towel. It made me smile! Did someone make it for you? I've always heard "the yeast beasties" are very sensitive to temperature, so If it was not warm enough that probably affected the rising. But it looked fabulous!

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    1. I am sure O.K.'s theory was right; after all, he is a trained baker by trade, even though he has not worked as one since the 1990s due to a flour dust allergy.
      The fox towel was part of a children's kitchen set I found years ago at Aldi's; it had two towels, an apron and oven gloves (which I use a lot).

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  4. Replies
    1. I liked it well enough, even though I am sure my next try will be better!

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  5. That looks good and it is the perfect thing to bring to a party. I love your cute kitchen towel and the toaster. It looks happy!

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    1. Thanks, Bonnie! I like to look at cheerful things first thing in the morning :-)

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  6. You'll have to publish a couple of recipe books then get your own TV show "OK & Meike's Küche". Impressive pesto flower bread - well done!

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    1. Thanks, YP! I'd love my own TV show, but I'd hate having to sit in make-up and get my face covered in powder and paint every time I enter the studio.

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  7. You've made a very good start to the new year with a great walk and now good food shared with family! I haven't seen any recipes in my local Aldi shop. This one looks very attractive and could be made with a variety of fillings both sweet and savoury.

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    1. Actually, the food came before the walk - we contributed that to our buffet meal on New Year's Eve, whereas the walk was on the 2nd of January :-)
      Over here, Aldi regularly publish booklets/magazines a few weeks before major holidays such as Christmas or Easter, with ideas for recipes, decoration and more. Even though I hardly ever make something from them, I like to browse them.

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  8. Certainly impressive. I love pesto and would enjoy eating a piece I'm sure but I'm not sure when I'd ever have a function where a whole loaf would go. I'll bear it in mind though.

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    1. The whole loaf didn't go - there were only four of us that evening, and we split the leftovers between us and had some bits the next day.
      I also love pesto and sometimes put it on a cheese sandwich to add extra zing.

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  9. I may try this and see if I can make the dough in my breadmaker. It looks very impressive.

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    1. I am sure the dough will turn out perfect in a breadmaker. Let me know when you try it!

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  10. This is something I had never heard of, incredible! Made with Pesto! It looks beautiful, brava! I can smell the pesto all the way here in Sicily ....

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    1. I saw it in the Aldi brochure and knew I wanted to try and make this! The smell was really good...

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