no-knead wholemeal pizza base

Lately I've found that I'm becoming increasingly domesticated in the kitchen, much to the delight of my husband. In a day where we can buy anything ready-made that our hearts desire, I strangely feel compelled to rebel and master the art of making things from scratch. When I came across a recipe for a no-knead pizza base, I knew I had found my first challenge. I'm not into kneading so much, so this recipe was a winner straight up. To be fair, I haven't made any other pizza base recipe to compare this to, but I'm pleased with these results. It doesn't take much effort, but you do need to be organised enough to mix up the dough the night before.


I used completely wholemeal flour here in an attempt to be a bit healthy, and it turned out great. Not too dense at all. I have recorded the original recipe here, but adapt the flour to suit your tastes.


No-Knead Wholemeal Pizza
Makes 2 large pizza bases

2 cups white flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon honey
2/3 teaspoon dried active yeast
400ml water

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl (it will be quite wet). Leave in a warm spot on the bench for between 12 and 24 hours.

2. Oil the baking trays and your hands. Split the dough in two, and spread out the dough onto the oiled trays. Leave on the bench for an extra hour or two.

3. Bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes or until the bases begin to change colour. Remove from the oven and spread with your desired toppings, then return to the oven until the cheese is melted, around 10 minutes.

Recipe from NZ Gardener Homegrown 2: Live off your land for less.

bailey's mint chocolate cake

I'm in a season of baking at the moment, mainly because I'm on holiday and am allowed to spend time doing such things. I've been looking ways to use up a bottle of Bailey's Mint Chocolate Irish Creme we got given for a wedding present (apart from the obvious drinking it!), and adapted this recipe from a Baking Bites recipe for Bailey's mint chocolate chip cupcakes.

If you use this recipe for cupcakes, it should make about 16 full-sized or 48 mini. Also, reduce the cooking time to 18 minutes for full-sized or 10 minutes for mini-cupcakes. Regular Bailey's of course could also be used here instead.


Bailey's Mint Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups flour (I used wholemeal which made it quite dense)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Bailey's Mint Chocolate Irish Creme
1/4 cup milk
white chocolate buttons

1. Preheat oven to 175C, and line the bottom of the cake pan with baking paper.

2. In a small bowl, sift and mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar.

3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Mix in half of the dry mixture, followed by the Bailey's and milk, then the rest of the dry mixture. Be careful not to overmix.

4. Pour half of the batter into the pan, and scatter white chocolate buttons over the top. Cover with the rest of the batter. Bake in center of oven for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean from the middle.

5. Ice with your favourite chocolate or mint icing. I used up the leftover chocolate marshmallow frosting from my previous post.

Recipe adapted from Baking Bites.

a dairy-free dinner

We had a friend around for dinner who can't eat dairy. The meal I made got rave reviews, so I thought I would share the recipes. I can't take full credit, as I followed the recipes pretty much exactly. For the main meal I made Braised Chicken with Prunes from the Healthy Food Guide cookbook. The link will take you to the full recipe on their website. All of their recipes are great actually. Healthy but still tasty. I'm slowly working my way through the cookbook.

For dessert I made a dairy-free chocolate cake with chocolate marshmallow frosting. The ingredients seemed a little strange to me, but it turned out moist just like any other cake. It was quick to throw together too, straight into the baking dish.


Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 tablespoons oil
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 175C.

2. Sift the dry ingredients into the cake pan. Make a well and pour in the oil, vinegar and vanilla. Then pour the water over top. Mix together with a fork (be careful with a non-stick pan!).

3. Bake in the center of the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Recipe originally from All Recipes.

Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting

This icing didn't turn out the best. It was way too runny, so I ended up piling in icing sugar to make it thick enough, which took away it's marshmallowiness (is that a word?). I think I over-beat the egg white perhaps? See the original lemon marshmallow frosting recipe at the clean plate club. I left out the lemon juice and added some cocoa powder. Next time I would also halve the recipe as I had enough to ice about three cakes! Post a comment if you have better luck than me!