Pancakes with cinnamon sugar

This easy pancake recipe makes enough to feed 6 to 8 people and can be stored overnight in the fridge - meaning you can make the batter in the evening and bake the next morning, but is it so simple and quick to whip up, it is not necessary to prepare ahead.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all purpose or cake flour

2 cups milk

2 cups water

6 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 table spoon white vinegar or lemon juice

Mix flour, water and milk together with a whisk. Add the eggs and whisk until incorporated.

Add the salt and oil.

Let the mixture stand for about 15 minutes,then add the vinegar or lemon juice.

Bake in a medium to hot pan (using a crepe pan helps, but any flat bottom, non stick pan will work.)

Bake one side until it starts to go brown and then flip.

The second side will go a lot faster.

Cover with cinnamon sugar and enjoy

Cinnamon sugar and variants

Use at least 2 tablespoons of cinnamon per cup of sugar - or as your sweet tooth desires,

Mix the two and that is it!

For a nice variant you can add grated citrus peel

Or add a few drops of vanilla essence to the sugar and mix well.

You can then dry the sugar and mix with the cinnamon.

If you have a used vanilla pod (one where you have already taken out the seeds) you can just pop that in a jar with your cinnamon sugar as well, although that will take longer to give a good vanilla flavour to the sugar.

Elizabeth's Bran and buttermilk Rusks

When Elizabeth is baking her rusks and the entire guest house smells of fresh warm homeyness, all of the staff sneak to the kitchen to see if there are any scraps and off-cuts to scavenge.

These rusks are very simple and absolutely delicious

INGREDIENTS

1,5 kg self-raising flour

10 ml baking powder

5 ml Salt

500 ml sugar

1 box (300 gr) All-Bran breakfast cereal

375 gr butter soft at room temperature

2 eggs

500 ml buttermilk

300 ml vegetable oil (canola or sunflower)

Preheat your oven to 180 °C

Coat 3 bread pans with cooking spray or butter.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a big mixing bowl. Add the sugar and All-Bran flakes and mix well. Cut the butter in smaller pieces and rub in the flour mixture with your finger tips until completely mixed

Beat the eggs and buttermilk together. add the oil. Mix the egg and oil mixture with the flour mixture until completely incorporated. Knead slightly until a dough forms.

Divide the dough in three and form loaves. Add to the three bread pans and press in, flattening on the top.

Cut the loaves in the pad unto 4 cm squares.

Bake the rusts 50 to 60 minutes on the middle oven rack. Cover with brown paper or foil if it starts to go brown to fast.

Turn out the rusks and let cool a bit. Break loose on the cut lines and dry out in the oven.

Pour yourself a cuppa and enjoy

Party wheel time - the best dinner rolls you will ever have!

For a function we had, we had a bread table and the one thing every bread table needs is a party wheel with delicious fresh dinner rolls. This recipe uses sourdough discard, but you can make the recipe without the starter. It just adds another level of flavour and helps to keep your rolls fresher for longer.

INGREDIENTS

3 Cups Bread flour (or 2 cups bread flour and 1 cup cake flour)

1 cup luke warm milk

1/2 cup sourdough starter discard

1 large egg

1/3 cup unsalted butter - slightly softnend

2 tablespoons sugar

1 packet instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the garnishes on top

Cheese, Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic, fresh herbs, butter

This recipe works best in a stand mixer, as it it much easier to incorporate everything and it starts off as a very sticky dough. But we did this one by hand - it just takes a little longer.

Add your flour to the mixer bowl with the salt, yeast and sugar. Add the milk and the sourdough starter and mix on low speed until everything is incorporated. Now add your egg and butter and mix well until all the butter is mixed into the dough.

You can now speed up your mixer to 1 or 2 and knead until it forms a soft springy dough.

Leave the dough, covered with oiled plastic wrap, in a warm place until doubled in size.

Once the first proof is done, knock down the dough and start forming your party wheel.

Make small evenly sized balls with a smooth surface and, starting from the middle form your wheel on a baking tray or in a oven proof skillet. keep in mind they will still rise a little, don't pack them in too tightly.

Leave the dough balls to rise for about an hour. Now you can add your garnishes before popping in the oven. You can top the rolls with anything you like. We had poppy seeds, garlic butter and cheese and we left some just plain.

If you want to add poppy seeds or sesame seeds, brush the rolls with melted butter or olive oil to make the seeds stick to the buns.

Bake the buns at 200°C for around 20 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.

Try to serve them still hot from the oven with some nice spreads.