World Bread Day 2022: No-Knead Focaccia

We're celebrating World Bread Day today. I love bread! I enjoy making the dough, the aroma that fills up my kitchen during baking, and of course the taste. When I came across this popular No-Knead Focaccia bread recipe recently, I had to try it. I loved it so much that I made it several times already in the last few months and again this weekend for World Bread Day. #wbd2022 #worldbreadday #worldbreadday2022

Zorra from the blog Kochtopf organizes World Bread Day every year. I can't believe this is the 17th edition of this annual online bread event. Thank you for organizing, Zorra!

This recipe is so easy to make: 4 ingredients and 5 min of your time to get the dough ready for an overnight retardation in the fridge. I highly recommend that you give it a try! You won't regret it :)

Look at that beautiful open crumb!

Moroccan yeasted pancakes (aka Baghrir)

Many years ago I posted a recipe for Moroccan yeasted pancakes called "Baghrir". Some people compare them to crumpets. There is similarity but crumpets are cooked on both sides whereas Baghrir is only cooked on one side. They have a LOT of holes on top which is why in French they're called "crepes aux mille trous" (pancakes with a thousand holes). These holes are perfect for soaking up a syrup of warm honey and melted butter or good olive oil. For some extra flavor, I like to add a teaspoon of orange blossom water. Yum! So why another post of Baghrir? I obtained a foolproof recipe from a close friend (Nazha) that's even easier and quicker to make, with equally great results. This recipe is also vegan whereas my old recipe was not because it uses milk. And if nine Baghrirs aren't enough, you can easily double the recipe.

A beautiful plate of Moroccan Baghrir. Bon Appetit!

TBB - English Dried Fruit Cake

This is my inaugural recipe for a new bake along called Rose's Alpha Bakers. We will be baking our way through The Baking Bible by the queen of baking, Rose Levy Beranbaum. I had the honor and pleasure to be one of the recipe testers for the book. Rose was kind enough to mention us by name in the acknowledgement section of her book, which is totally awesome!!!

Unfortunately I missed last week's official inaugural recipe which was the Kouign Amann. You can read all about the other bakers' adventures in Marie's round-up post. But I won't let that spoil the fun for this week's English Dried Fruit Cake. I don't recall ever eating fruit cake. It's usually too dense for my liking or doused with some sort of alcohol. And since not a lot of people speak kindly of said cake, I didn't miss eating it or bother baking it.

And then Rose developed this fruit cake recipe. I was immediately intrigued by the unusual batter preparation technique which has you cook some of the ingredients on the stove.

Does that look like wet sand?

One bonus: no mixer required. Everything is done by hand. It's also easy and quick to make. I was heating up leftovers for dinner while whipping up the batter for this cake. One more thing... Even with all my substitutions and not using any of the recommended cake pans, it turned out awesome!

English Dried Fruit cake baked in my new vintage Bundt pan :o)

Ghriyba - Moroccan shortbread cookie

Ghriyba is a childhood favorite cookie of mine. This Moroccan version of a shortbread cookie has a wonderful melt-in-your-mouth texture which I really love. It's typically enjoyed with a glass of hot Moroccan mint tea :o)

There are many version of this Moroccan cookie. The kind I will be sharing with you today is made with finely ground almonds and golden flax seeds. Traditionally, this kind is made with almonds and sesame seeds, but since I'm allergic to sesame seeds, I used flax seeds instead, which works great.

I challenge you to "go Moroccan" and give these cookies a try. You won't be disappointed :o) If you do, I would love to hear how you liked it.

Nice crackly top!