​Recipe adapted from Nikica Gamulina Games cookbook 'Hrvatska Kuharica'

Serves 4

100ml olive oil
1 large brown onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
500g chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite sized pieces
20g plain flour
200ml tomato passata
100ml white wine
​1/2-1 teaspoon vegeta, to taste
6 basil leaves, torn
Salt and pepper, to taste

​Extra basil leaves, to serve
​ ​
Place oil in a large frying pan, heat over a medium heat. Add the onions, sauté for 5-6 minutes.​ Add the garlic, sauté for 1 minute. Increase the heat to high, add the chicken pieces, cook on one side for 3 minutes, you want the chicken to colour and be golden brown, stir or turn over and colour the other side. If your heat is too high, reduce it, I only increase the heat, so the meat doesn't stew when I add it. 

Once the chicken has browned, if you haven't already, reduce the heat to medium. Add flour to the pan, stir through for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomato passata, wine, basil and vegeta, season with salt and pepper. Bring it to a simmer and simmer for around 20 minutes. If needed add water to the sauce, if thickening too quickly.

Serve over fuzi, store bought pasta or polenta with fresh basil leaves. 

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​It's nearly a month now since I decided to stop buying bread and started my little adventure in baking my own bread daily. This has been fun, I'm loving it and my family is loving it.

Bread making is very easy, so far I'm making simple loaves or rolls, eventually I want to get into sourdoughs (as my husband loves it) and different breads, using different flours and grains and even making traditional breads from different countries.

Just like with cooking I am making different types of breads, as I could not just eat one type of bread everyday. I would just get bored of it. My family then try it and let me know if they would want that bread again.

Why did I start baking bread, because I got sick of going to the shops just because I needed bread. I found it was much easier and less time is wasted, if I just bake it myself.

This recipe came about as I needed a roll that would be great in the lunchbox for school the next day. My son who is 16 rated this bread very well, he said it was great for lunch.

Now this bread requires a free standing mixer with a dough hook.

The rolls are quite easy to make, they are soft and they taste great. They would also make great burger buns as they are quite large.

If you like me and you want to start making your own bread, this one is a great one to try.

​Makes 6 large rolls or 8 small rolls

500g bread flour
10g caster sugar
10g salt
8g instant yeast
20g olive oil or lard
300ml water

1 egg, beaten well, for brushing
sesame seeds, for sprinkling
​

Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl of a free standing mixer, mix with a wooden spoon to combine. Then using a dough hook attachment, mix over low speed for 10 minutes until a a nice smooth dough forms.

Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place your dough in the bowl, turn the dough over, so the oil, covers the dough lightly. Then cover the bowl with beeswax wraps or cling film, and allow to rest for 2 hours or until it doubles in size.

Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Remove the dough from the bowl and cut it into 6 (or 8) even pieces. Shape the pieces into balls and place on your prepared baking tray, make sure you spread the balls out on the tray, with plenty of space in between each ball, to allow them to grow and spread as they rest again.

Brush each ball lightly with the beaten egg and sprinkle over the sesame seeds.

Place a tea towel over the tray and allow to prove for 1.5-2 hours, until they are nice and big.​

Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan forced at least 30 minutes before you will bake the rolls. Place your oven rack on the second from the bottom spot.

​Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden or until baked to your liking.

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​My husband recently bought a whole goat from a butcher so I have been on a mission to try and find new ways to cook goat. I did a goat curry which we all loved, but this time I wanted to do something Croatian inspired.

There wasn't a goat stew recipe that I could find that I wanted to cook, but I found a Croatian chicken duvec recipe that look good, which I decided I would use loosely as a guide. I combined that recipe with how my mother in law cooks meat in stews. now I've made up my very own recipe.

This is a comforting stew, it kind of reminds me of a Turkish dish I recently made with all the vegetables that go into this. The meat is soft, the vegetables perfectly cooked, the flavour is delicious. My family really enjoyed this.

I used a goat leg for this recipe, I just took the meat off the bone (you need at least 500g of meat, I think I had 800g), used the meat in this recipe and made a soup out of the bones. You can use my Chicken Soup recipe as a guide, just replace the chicken with goat bones. Here I also made a double batch of my homemade grated pasta for the soup.

I do love cooking food from all over the world, but I especially love cooking Croatian, as it keeps that tradition alive in my household. My kids love it more and more, the older they get.

With the eggplants I like to pick small-medium sized ones, I find they have less seeds inside, they tend to not be bitter and I skip the whole salting step. If your eggplant have loads of black seeds , just slice them 1-2cm thick, sprinkle with cooking salt and leave for 10 minutes, once they release their juices, pat dry with paper towels, dice up and continue with the recipe. 

You can also add other seasonal vegetables to this dish like green beans, carrots or peas etc. Swap the goat for beef or lamb, or add extra eggplant to make it a vegetarian dish. 

If you were going to make a chicken version, I would use diced chicken thighs, and start the recipe with the onion step (as chicken cooks quicker), then add the chicken, sauté for 5 minutes, then continue with the recipe as written below, until you need to place it in the oven, with chicken you don't need to do 30 minutes with the lid on, just bake it 30 minutes uncovered.
​
​This is something we loved, hope you do to.

​1 goat leg, deboned, meat diced into bite sized pieces
2 medium onions, diced
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 medium potatoes, diced, bite sized
2 large red capsicums, diced
2 medium sized eggplants, diced into bite sized pieces
2 large zucchini. diced
200g cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 large, juicy tomatoes, heirloom or oxheart, diced
​salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano


In a large oven proof dish (with a lid) add the oil. Heat the oil over a low-medium heat, add onion and sauté until the onions soften and become translucent, this takes about 10 minutes.  

Add the meat season with a little salt and pepper. Stir, cover, and cook for 45 minutes, over a low heat, stirring occasionally.

Preheat your oven to 200C/180C fan forced.

After 45 minutes remove cover, increase heat to high, cook out the liquid until you are left with a thick mixture. Decrease the heat to medium.

Start adding the vegetables one by one, start with potatoes, give it a stir, cook for two to three minutes, stirring regularly. I give the potatoes extra time, as once you add the tomatoes, potatoes can be tough, they cook differently, so just make sure you give them a little alone time in the pot to start the cooking process.

Then add the capsicums and garlic, stir through for a minute, add the eggplant, stir through, then the zucchini, stir through then add the cherry tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and add oregano, stir through. Sauté for 10 minutes.​

Add the diced tomatoes, stir through, until they begin to release their juices. If by chance your tomatoes are not juicy, add 1/2-1 cup water now.

Cover your pot with a lid and place in your preheated oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and cook a further 30 minutes until your meat has cooked and your sauce has reduced.

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​This is a recipe my husband bookmarked for me to make. He'd recently bought goat meat and he thought it would work in this recipe. This dish is something my husband grew up on, his family are from Medimurje in Croatia, and when they have large gatherings this would be made (at a far larger quantity than I am making), it is comfort food, it's relatively cheap and it feeds many.

Cobanac is a Shepherd's stew, it would feed the shepherds after a long day of herding or farming. 

Now this is made using three different meats, pork and beef are common, but the third meat is usually a game meat like venison or boar, something hunted and caught. This is where our goat came in, not quite a game meat, but it was different. You could use lamb instead of goat. Pig trotters are added as they make the stew thick and delicious. If you don't want to add them that's your choice, this is a recipe that can be adjusted to different tastes.

The dish is cooked over several hours, and it is one that should only be made when you have lots of time and you feel like cooking. Most stews you get things in a pot and let it simmer away. This one things get added at different stages and you need to be by the pot for quite some time, stirring, adding, stirring etc.

The end result is a delicious stew, it is full of flavour, thick and hearty. I served it with dumplings, but you could just serve it with a good crusty Italian bread.

This is a recipe that can be made in advance, it is even better the next day. You could cook it on the weekend so you have midweek meals ready, just reheat. It will keep in the fridge for 3 days, though it never lasts that long in my house. Do not add the noklice if you are making this a day ahead, they should go in on the day of eating the stew.

If you like to cook and want to try something traditionally Croatia, you should give this a try.

Recipe adapted from Andrea Pisac's cookbook 'Croatian Classics'

Serves 8

​For the meat:
500g goat meat (from the leg)
500g beef chuck steak
500g pork shoulder (or neck)
1-2 pig trotters, halved

For the marinade:
Divide all ingredients equally into 3 large bowls
3 carrots, peeled, roughly chopped, divided
1 leek, roughly chopped, divided
1 large stick celery, roughly chopped, divided
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped, divided
3/4 teaspoon white pepper, divided
6 fresh or 3 dried bay leaves, divided
6 tablespoons sunflower oil, divided
3 tablespoons mustard, divided

For the stew:
2 tablespoons olive oil or lard
600g onions, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
600ml water, divided
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
2-3 fresh or 1 dried bay leaves
1.5 litres water
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
150ml dry white wine

For the stock:
1 litre water
vegetables from the marinade
250ml tomato passata
​1 tablespoon ajvar

Noklice/dumplings:
200g plain flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
salt, to taste
water, as needed


Start the recipe the day before you need to cook it.

Cut all three types of meat into equal bite sized pieces. Place each type of meat into a separate bowl. Place the pig trotters in the pork bowl.

Divide all the marinade ingredients equally between these three bowls. Give each bowl are good mix to combine all the ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap, I like to use a black marker and write what meat is what on the plastic on the bowl. Place each bowl in the fridge for 12-24 hours, I like to do it overnight.

The next day, in a large heavy bottomed pot, add the oil (or lard), add the onions and sauté for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, season with a good pinch of salt, this will allow the onion to release its juices. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring regularly for 45 minutes, gradually adding water, if needed, if it is sticking to the pot, you want the onions to disintegrate.

While the onion is cooking, take out the goat meat and place it on a plate. Place all the marinade vegetables into another medium-large sized pot.

When the onions are ready, add the goat meat to the pot, season with a good pinch salt, and simmer until it releases its juices, it takes about 5 minutes, stir regularly. 

While the goat is cooking, take the pig trotters out of the pork bowl. 

Now add the first 300ml of the water to the goat, add the pig trotters, the hot paprika and bay leaves, simmer until all the liquid evaporates from the pot.

​While the pig trotters are cooking, take the beef pieces out of the bowl and place it on a plate. Place all the marinade vegetables with the other vegetables in the medium-large sized pot.

When there is no more liquid left, add the beef to the goat pot, season with a pinch of salt and simmer until it releases it's juices, about 5 minutes, stir regularly. Add the remaining 300ml water and simmer until all the liquid has evaporated.

While the beef is cooking, take the pork pieces out of the bowl and place it on a plate. Place all the marinade vegetables with the other vegetables in the medium-large sized pot.

Again when the liquid is gone, add the pork meat, season with salt and simmer until it releases it's juices, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile to your vegetables in your other pot add 1 litre water, bring to the boil. When the carrots are soft, about 10 minutes, test with a fork, add the passata and the the ajvar. Blitz with a stick blender until thick.

Pour the vegetable stock into the stew. Add an additional 1.5 litres of water, the wine and the sweet paprika, simmer on low heat for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile make the noklice: In a bowl add the flour, eggs, oil and salt. Give it a mix. Now add in 2 tablespoons of water, mix. Keeping adding water a tablespoon at a time until you get a smooth thick pancake batter consistency, (I added an additional 4 tablespoons of water). Set aside, until needed.

In the last 10 minutes of cooking the stew add the noklice-place a spoon into your stew to heat up, now place a small amount of the dough onto your spoon and drop the dough into the stew by putting the dough and spoon into the simmering stew, the dough will slide off and this way the spoon stays hot, repeat until all the dough is used up, simmer for about 10 minutes or until the noklice are cooked through.
Serve hot.

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​Why did I call this my Friday bread, simply because I like to make it on Fridays. So why do I only make it on Fridays, because this loaf is so big it ensures I will have bread in the house over the weekend without needing to go to the shops.

I have a few no knead breads on my blog, but this one is different in that I don't make it in a Dutch oven. All my other no knead breads can be made this way to, but this one especially can't be made in a Dutch oven, as it is too large a mix for a Dutch oven.

​Now this one I also wanted to add as it is made with plain flour, not bread flour. It is more accessible to buy for many.

If you like you can make it in a freestanding mixer, it is just not necessary. You just need a large bowl, preferably wide rimmed, as it makes working with the dough easier.

​Years ago I attempted this bread and thought it was okay, but it could be better. Now I used the same recipe, but as I have gained more experience in bread making (I have only been baking bread for 3 weeks now) I combined a few things from other recipes and now we absolutely love this bread.

The crust is super crunchy as it comes out of the oven, but it will soften over time, and that's fine as it really is great bread. The softer crust makes for easier eating for smaller kids and makes it great as lunchbox bread.

If you want to use cup measures, use a 250ml cup measure and it's
6 1/4 cups plain flour
​3 cups water

This is delicious toasted, or used in a sandwich press.

No knead breads are a great way to start baking bread. Once you start, you just don't go back to store bought.

This recipe is easy and needs to be made by you.

​8g instant dry yeast, 1 satchet
​935g plain flour​
2 teaspoons sea salt or cooking salt
742g warm water
​

In a large mixing bowl add the yeast, flour and salt, mix to combine. Pour in the warm water, using a wooden spoon mix to combine until there is no more dry flour. It will be sticky, sometimes I find using a damp hand, I give the bread 5-6 kneads, just to incorporate the flour better. The dough does not stick to a wet hand. Only do this if you want to. leave the dough to rest for 15 minutes.

​Cover the bowl with beeswax wraps or plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Now it's time to stretch and fold the dough. This step just ensures your flour is well mixed into the dough, and makes for light bread.

Release the dough from the side of the bowl, using a damp hand. This will deflate it.
Perform a set of stretch and folds on the dough. To do this, wet your hand, then take a section of the dough furthest from you and stretch it up and fold it onto itself towards you. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat the process. You need to do a total of 8 stretch and folds. You will get the dough roughly shaped like a ball.

​Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 2.5-3 hours at room temperature.

Preheat your oven to 230C/210C fan forced for about 45 minutes. Place a shallow baking tray on the lowest rack in your oven. Place the rack you will bake your bread on in the centre of your oven.

Now it's time to shape your loaf. Do not knead your dough now. The dough will be sticky, I like to use damp hands here. Place the bowl in front of you, think of the bowl like a clock, now using both hands lift the dough at the 12 o'clock position and pull it over 2/3 of the way down towards the 6 o'clock position. Now dampen hands with water and lift the dough from the 6 o'clock position and pull it over the dough you just pulled down towards the 12 o'clock position. Now rotate the bowl so that what was the 9 o'clock position becomes the 12 o'clock position. Repeat the pulling and folding (using damp hands) process again. The dough should now have tightened into a more ball like shape.

Now cut a piece of baking paper larger than your dough by at least 5-7cm. Place on a large baking tray, preferably one that has no rim. Sprinkle the baking paper lightly with flour.

Now flip the dough gently out of the bowl onto your baking paper (set the bowl aside, you still need it). The smooth side of the dough should now be on top. Now if you want to shape it some more, I use damp hands again, you can use floured hands, cup your hands around the dough and slowly start pulling it around and down to form a circular shape. This is optional.

Now flip your mixing bowl and place it over the top of the dough to cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes remove the mixing bowl, it's time to score the bread. Dust the top of the bread with flour. Using a serrated knife, the dough is a wet dough, so it is sticky, with a quick and confident decisive swipe, make a cut in the dough from top to bottom. 

Either throw in 10 ice cubes in the baking tray you have in the oven on the lower rack or pour in a cup of water. This will create steam in your oven which will create the crunchy crust. 

Place your bread in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes or until browned to your liking, but more importantly it needs to sound hollow when you tap the bottom of it.

Leave for 30 minutes on a cooling rack before you cut the bread as it continues cooking as it rests.

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​My daughter loves bread, it's her weakness. But this recipe was requested by my sons girlfriend, Livia, she saw I had posted on one of my Instagram stories and she asked me to make it.

So one day when I knew she was coming over I thought I'd give it a try. It was easy enough, only a few minutes work and time does the rest. The focaccia was soft and fluffy and we loved the toppings.

Now Livia doesn't love cheese, so I reduced the amount of cheese I put on my focaccia. I also only added cheese on top of the potatoes to half the focaccia, it was still absolutely delicious, just less cheesy. So that is why I say add cheese to taste.

You can use thyme instead of rosemary or spring onions instead of shallots.​

You can also make this with my overnight focaccia recipe. Just take it out of the fridge 45 minutes before you continue with the recipe.

This is a great filler when you have kids at home, it's better than a sandwich, cheaper than a bought pizza.

​Recipe adapted from Instagram _lacebakes_

Makes 1 focaccia

500g white bread flour
420g warm water
6g instant yeast
5g honey
15g extra virgin olive oil
10g fine sea salt

125g-175g shredded cheese, use a combination of gruyere, mozzarella, provolone, and cheddar, to taste
4 shallots, thinly sliced
3 sprigs rosemary, remove stalks
1 large baking potato
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
flaky sea salt, to sprinkle
​freshly cracked black pepper
​
In a large mixing bowl, add the warm water, yeast, honey and extra virgin olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon. Add in the flour and salt and mix together until you have no dry patches. Sometimes I find using a damp hand, I give the bread 5-6 kneads, just to incorporate the flour better. The dough does not stick to a wet hand.

Cover the bowl with beeswax wraps or plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Now it's time to stretch and fold the dough. Release the dough from the side of the bowl, using a damp hand. This will deflate it. Perform a set of stretch and folds on the dough. To do this, wet your hand, then take a section of the dough furthest from you and stretch it up and fold it onto itself towards you. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat the process. You need to do a total of 8 stretch and folds. You will get the dough roughly shaped like a ball. 

Cover the bowl again and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Repeat the stretch and folds again. After this stretch and fold, using damp hands, gather your dough and place it seam side down into the bowl, so the top is smooth.

​Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 1.5 hours at room temperature.
​
Prepare your 22cm x 33cm baking tray. Put a teaspoon of oil in your tray, spread it around. Scrunch up a piece of baking paper that is cut larger than your tray, unscrunch it and place it in your baking tray, pressing into the corners.

Pour 2-3 tablespoons of oil into the centre of your pan. 

Place dough in your prepared pan. Now, oil your hands and fold one side of dough towards the middle of the dough. Repeat with the other side, like folding paper into thirds. The flip the dough so the seam is at the bottom and spin it so that the long ends are parallel with the long sides of the tray.

Let it sit to proof, at room temperature for about 1.5 hours. During this time the dough will puff up and fill up the tray.

Meanwhile prep your toppings:- Thinly slice your potato using a sharp knife. Place potato slices into a bowl filled with cold water and let them sit for 15-30 minutes. 
Shred your cheese, slice your shallots.

Preheat oven to 220C/200C fan forced. Place your oven rack in the second from the bottom position in the oven.

Once the dough has fully proofed, remove the potatoes from the water and dry them completely. Coat the potatoes, shallots and rosemary lightly with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Drizzle the dough with a little bit of olive oil and dimple it with your fingers. Scatter 3/4 of the shallots evenly across the top. Top with 2/3 of the shredded cheese. Sprinkle over the rosemary.

Place the thinly sliced potatoes in one layer over the entire focaccia.

Sprinkle with the remaining shallots. Top with a good sprinkle of flaky sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and quickly sprinkle on the remaining cheese.

Return to the oven and finish baking for another 10-12 minutes. The bread and topping should be golden brown with the potatoes and cheese crisping up on the edges.

​Let it cool for at least 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving.

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​My mother in law is a great cook, over the years when she has holidayed to Australia (or we have holidayed to Croatia), I would watch and learn how to cook her family recipes (I'm all for keeping family traditions alive).

This recipe I have always loved, I mean I love squid cooked anyway, fried, barbecued, boiled and now baked. We all love this apart from my daughter, she's a fried calamari only kind of girl. But if you like them barbecued, you'll like them baked.

If you prefer just use 2 large squid, but I like to mix it up with calamari and cuttlefish. It all depends on what you catch or can buy.

Do not peel the skins from the squid, I have never understood chefs that peel off the skins. To Croatians the flavour is in the skin, plus I find they look horrible peeled. And don't cut off the wings, they are delicious.

If you can only find medium sized squid, like the ones pictured, decrease the baking time, I baked for them for 15 minutes only.

​This is a simple recipe, but it has a lot of flavour. Something worth trying.

​Serves 4-6

​8 medium sized potatoes
Salt and pepper, to taste
½-1 tablespoon vegeta, to taste
1-2 tablespoons sunflower oil

2 large squid, cleaned
OR
1 large squid and 1 large cuttlefish, cleaned
​
Salt, pepper
½ teaspoon vegeta, extra
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons sunflower oil, extra
10 fresh sage leaves, to taste
1 sprig fresh rosemary, optional​
½ cup white wine
​
Preheat oven to 250C/230C fan forced.

In a bowl mix together potatoes, salt, pepper, vegeta and oil.

Place baking paper on a large baking tray. Scatter potatoes on the tray and bake in a preheated oven until browned and nearly cooked, approximately 40-50 minutes.
 
In a large dish, add the squid (or squid and cuttlefish), season with salt, pepper, extra vegeta, sage, rosemary and olive and sunflower oils, mix to combine. Place the squid and cuttlefish on top of the near baked potatoes, bake for 20 minutes (if your squid are medium sized, bake for 15 minutes). Pour the wine over the squid (or squid and cuttlefish) and bake a further 5 minutes.

If your squid is large, I like to slice them into 1cm rings, then place them back on the potatoes and serve immediately. If they are smaller, you can serve them whole.

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​I am on the baking bread band wagon, I just can't stop. It's been three weeks since I bought my last loaf of bread and I don't know that I'll ever buy one again.

Bread making is easy, I mean really easy. Once you find a few recipes that you like, you will be baking forever. 

This recipe I made for my boys (husband and two sons) as they all love dried fruit. It is fabulous, the bread is not sweet, but the raisins (or sultanas) make it sweet enough. The bread is soft, there is just enough cinnamon, it really is delicious. I actually don't like sultanas or raisins, but I do love this bread. Why, the dried fruit is soaked in water, vanilla and I put a little Croatian rum into it, then it is coated in cinnamon and it changes the flavour.

I love this bread with butter, my son doesn't even bother, he likes it as is.

​The bread comes out of the oven crisp, but softens as it cools.

This bread is still super soft the second day, but I toasted it just to see if I like it toasted and I loved it.

One thing with bread making, use a bowl like this to mix the dough. I like a wide rimmed bowl as it means when I do the lifts and folds, I can do it in the bowl, rather than tipping it on the bench. If I make an overnight bread which goes in the fridge, I use a narrower bowl, just so it fits in the fridge better.

This bread is baked in a Dutch oven/cast iron pot. The pot is preheated and acts like an oven within an oven. There are affordable Dutch ovens around, it really is worth buying if you want to bake bread at home. But I also love making stews in them and putting them in the oven to cook, rather than cooking them on the stove top.

​If you like raisin bread, you have to try this, it's truly amazing.

​Recipe adapted from Instagram _lacebakes_

Makes 1 loaf

For the dough:
390ml warm water
5g honey
15ml extra virgin olive oil
6g instant yeast
500g white bread flour
10g fine sea salt

For the cinnamon raisins:
140g raisins or sultanas
7g ground cinnamon
dash vanilla extract
dash Croatian rum (optional)
​

In a large mixing bowl add the water, yeast, honey and extra virgin olive oil. Mix together with a wooden spoon.

Add in the flour and salt and mix together until you have no dry patches. Sometimes I find using a damp hand, I give the bread 5-6 kneads, just to incorporate the flour better. The dough does not stick to a wet hand.

Cover the bowl with beeswax wraps or plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Meanwhile in a small bowl add the raisins, vanilla and rum. Pour over boiling water, just to cover. Let this sit for at least 10 minutes. Once the raisins have plumped up nicely, drain off the water, squeeze out as much excess water as you can and then add the cinnamon to the raisins and mix together until they are evenly coated.


Now it's time to stretch and fold the dough. Add half of your cinnamon raisins evenly to the dough. 

Release the dough from the side of the bowl, using a damp hand. This will deflate it.
Perform a set of stretch and folds on the dough. To do this, wet your hand, then take a section of the dough furthest from you and stretch it up and fold it onto itself towards you. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat the process. You need to do a total of 8 stretch and folds. You will get the dough roughly shaped like a ball.

Cover the bowl again and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Then add the remaining cinnamon raisins and repeat the stretch and folds again. This will incorporate the cinnamon raisins nicely into the dough.

​Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 1.5 hours at room temperature.
​

Once the dough has finished proofing, place your Dutch oven (including the lid) in your oven and preheat your oven at 250C/230C fan forced.

Now it's time to shape your loaf. The dough will be sticky, I like to use damp hands here. Place the bowl in front of you, think of the bowl like a clock, now using both hands lift the dough at the 12 o'clock position and pull it over 2/3 of the way down towards the 6 o'clock position. Now dampen hands with water and lift the dough from the 6 o'clock position and pull it over the dough you just pulled down towards the 12 o'clock position. Now rotate the bowl so that what was the 9 o'clock position becomes the 12 o'clock position. Repeat the pulling and folding (using damp hands) process again. The dough should now have tightened into a more ball like shape.

Now flip the dough gently out of the bowl onto your bench (set the bowl aside, you still need it). If the dough is really sticky, you can add a light dusting of flour on your bench first. The smooth side of the dough should now be on top. Now I use damp hands again, you can use floured hands, cup your hands around the dough and slowly start pulling it around and down to form a circular shape. The dough will tighten up and will look smoother around the edges. Continue until the ball feels slightly taut. This step comes with practice.

Cut out a piece of baking paper, longer than your ball width, by about 12-14cm, you need the extra length to use as handles to pick up the dough when you need to put it in your hot pot.

Gently place the dough ball in the centre of the baking paper, then flip your mixing bowl and place it over the top of the dough to cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes remove the mixing bowl, it's time to score the bread. Using a serrated knife, the dough is a wet dough, so it is sticky, with a quick and confident decisive swipe, make a cut in the dough from top to bottom. 

Remove the pot from the oven using oven gloves, it will be crazy hot, remove the lid. Carefully lift the dough using the baking paper and lower the bread into the pot. Place the lid back on and return the pot to the oven and bake the bread for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, lift the lid and check the colour of the bread, it needs to be deep golden brown when it has finished baking and it should sound hollow when you tap the bottom of it. Replace the lid if you think it needs a little more baking.

Remove the bread from the pot and place on a cooling rack, you need to wait at least 30 minutes before cutting into your bread.

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​1/2 large bunch kale
4 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup broccoli, cut into small florets
1 avocado, chopped into small pieces
1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup almonds, pecans, pepitas or walnuts
1/4 cup dried sour cherries, currants, cranberries or craisins
​

Remove the stems from the kale. Cut or tear the kale into bite sized pieces. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar and salt, and using your hands massage the kale firmly for a couple of minutes. Leave for 20-30 minutes to soften. During this softening time, the leaves will turn a beautiful, vibrant green colour.

Bring water to the boil a medium saucepan. Add the broccoli and simmer for 3 minutes, drain in a colander to cool completely.

Place the kale in a large bowl, add the broccoli, avocado, parsley, pepitas and craisins. Check for seasoning and serve.

Serving Suggestions:
Serve with your favourite style of eggs.
Crumble over some soft goats cheese.
When in season add fresh fruit instead of dried, such as pomegranate seeds, green or red grapes or cherries.

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​Croatians over time have embraced kofte, they made a few tweaks and now classify cevapi as their own. 

I will add because I don't need drama over it's origins, they are eaten all over the Balkans. I can't tell you the actual origin of cevapi, nor do I care, but I do know they are eaten all over Croatia, and we usually serve them in a roll (lepinje) with ajvar and diced onions. I really like it with coleslaw.

What are Cevapi or cevapcici, they are skinless sausages. 

The first time I made this I tried to rush this and made it in a few hours, I ended up with dry, crappy, cevapi. A few days later I gave it the time it needed and they were delicious. My kids faces when they ate them was priceless as they couldn't believe how good they were.

I like to use 750g beef mince to 250g pork mince. Don't use lean mince here, you need a fattier mince, for juicier cevapi. If you are buying mince from supermarkets you can buy a 500g beef mince packet and a 500g pork and veal/beef mince packet.

Adding water to cevapi, some may think it's crazy. I learnt while making polpete when we did our eating adventure in Poland, that adding water to mince makes it more juicy. You don't add water to saturate the meat, but you add just enough moisture where it is not dry, the meat feels plump, not wet. And as long as your frying pan is hot, your meat will not stew. I also add water to my sarme mince mixture. We have all had those dry unpleasant looking filled sarme, try adding water to the mince, it will be moist and juicy.

I pan fry them here in this recipe, but they are great on the barbecue also. You would grill them for about 8-10 minutes in total, turning to cook all sides over a medium heat.

These are easy to make, just follow the recipe, definitely worth making yourself as they are better than store bought.

Recipe adapted from Andrea Pisac's cookbook 'Croatian Classics'

Makes 18-20 cevapi

​3 cloves garlic, peeled, sliced in half
80ml water
750g beef mince
250g pork mince
​2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
80ml water, extra
​1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1-2 tablespoons ​sunflower oil, for frying
Lepinje, to serve
Ajvar, to serve
Diced onions, to serve
Coleslaw, to serve, follow link for recipe, omit apple


​Place the water and the garlic in a small saucepan, bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and leave to cool completely. The garlic will infuse flavour into the water. Once cooled, remove all of the garlic and discard. Keep the water.

In a large bowl add the mince, the cooled water, salt, pepper and paprika. Gently combine, cover and leave in the refrigerator overnight.
​
Day 2: The next day add water and bicarb to a small bowl, mix to combine. Now you will treat the mince like a dough. Gradually add the bicarb water to the mince and mix it in to the meat, kind of kneading it in, this takes about 20 minutes, you are done when all the bicarb mix is incorporated and the mixture is compact and does not stick to the sides of the bowl.

Now using damp hands, shape the mince into cevapi, finger like rolls, about 10-12cm long. They shrink on cooking, so you want to make them longer than you need.

​Heat you frying pan over a high heat, your pan must get hot. I cook it in two batches to not overcrowd my pans, add in oil, place cevapi in your pan, leave a little space between each one. Fry for about 3 minutes. Turn cevapi over, decrease heat slightly if cooking too fast, cook a further 3 minutes. Turn on the side, place lid on frying pan, cook 2 minutes, again adjust heat if needed. Make final turn, cover pan and cook for 2 minutes or until cooked through.

​Serve with lepinje, ajvar, diced onion, sour cream and coleslaw.

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