Fatias do Bispo (Bishop's Sices)

Ingredients:
- Bread (a white baguette will do nicely);
- Eggs;
- Sugar;
- Lemon peel;
- Cinnamon;
- Water;
- Milk and Port Wine (optional).

1. Cut the bread in thick slices the day before so that it can dry a bit.

2. On the day, start by boiling some water with sugar and lemon peels. You will want quite a bit of water; I boiled probably around 3 litres and added around 200-300g of sugar to it or even more. It will be ready when it runs smoothly from your spoon [Can somebody else help me explain better how the texture looks like :) ?].

3. In the meantime, soak the bread slices in an egg mix (traditionally only the yolks would be used; I use the whole egg and usually add some Port wine in it; some people also add some milk). Turn the slices around and let them soak for a few minutes.

4. Allow the bread slices to boil in the sugary water, turning them around every now and then. 5 minutes overall should be enough.

5. Put them in a bowl and sprinkle them with cinnamon (you will want a considerably bigger bowl than the one in the big photo).

6. When all the slices have been cooked, pour the remaining water over them into the bowl until the slices are covered (so try to plan for this extra bit of water in the beginning).

7. These are better when eaten chilled. Once again, enjoy :)

Soufflé

Here is a very simple recipe that you can do to use stale/hard bread and other left-overs. There are no fixed amounts of ingredients and you can change their proprotions based on your preferences.

- Ingredients: bread (preferably dry/hard), milk, eggs, fish or something else to put in the soufflé, seasonings (salt, pepper, lemon juice, etc.)

1. Soak smaller pieces of bread with milk until they are all wet (make sure not to put too much milk; do it progressively and don't add any more if you see there is milk in the bottom that is not being absorved anymore).
2. Then add your 'main ingredient', such as some loosely shredded fish (no fishbones) or chicken or some other leftover you may have at home (you can even add more than one). If you opt for fish (I used some tuna cans), some lemon juice might be goo on i; add the juice to the fish before you mix it with the bread. Add any other seasoning to taste.
3. Break a few eggs and separate the whites from the yolks (for a bowl like mine which was good for about 6 persons you should use 4-6 eggs but this can be left partially to your consideration but the more whites you have the fluffier it will be). Mix the yolks with the bread mix.
4. Wisk the whites aside right before you plan to put everything in the oven and fold them into the rest.
5. Put everything into a pyrex container greased with butter and leave it in a 180º/200ºC oven for about 30-40 min.

Since soufflés tend to be a bit dry, I would suggest some nice salad on the side.
Enjoy it :P

4 Breads: Yeast, Corn, Loaf and Machine

YEAST BREAD: Egg Bread (Challah)

3-31/4 cups flour

1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package yeast
1 cup very warm water
2 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large egg

Mix 1 1/2 c flour, sugar, salt and yeast with warm water, oil and egg. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour until dough can be easily handled (not too sticky).

Place dough on floured surface and knead about 10 minutes until smooth and springy. Place dough in large, lightly greased bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let raise in warm spot for about an hour.

Dough can be rolled out into square, then rolled tightly and placed seam-side down in 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Or dough can be divided into 3 equal parts, each part rolled into rope and loosely braided on cookie sheet. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rise another 50 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 F. Brush bread with one egg yolk to make shiny. If in loaf pan bake 30-35 minutes, if braided bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown.




Gluten-free Corn Bread

2 cups yellow or white cornmeal
½ cup boiling water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1 ¼ cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, heat oven safe skillet or medium size casserole dish. Stir together ½ cup cornmeal and the boiling water. The cornmeal will get the consistency of a thick porridge or grits. Beat the egg into the reserved cornmeal porridge. Whisk in the buttermilk (or substitute) and oil to make a thin batter. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the remaining 1 ½ cups cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, whisk just until smooth and immediately pour into the hot skillet (or casserole dish). Bake until the center of the cornbread is firm and the edges are golden brown, about 25 to 40 minutes.


Loaf Bread: Zucchini (Courgette) Bread

3 cups shredded courgettes
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 large eggs
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1/2 cup raisins

Mix all ingredients. Pour batter into either two 81/2 x 41/2x21/2 or one 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake 8 inch loaves 50-60 minutes or 9 inch loaf 1 hour 20 minutes, or until knife inserted comes out clean.