Kitchen Therapy

Tag Archives: bread rolls


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Bubble Top Brioche

I’m not sure how other countries format their school year but here in Sydney, Australia we have 4 school terms that go for 10 weeks each. The kids have two weeks off school at the end of every 10 week term. Except for Christmas, when they have 6 weeks off school.

We are half way through our Christmas school holidays and next week we leave for 2 weeks in Hawaii! Yay!
I can’t wait! It’s been about 15 years since I was last there and I have such great memories from that trip and now I get to make new ones with my children!

My husband is excited for the opportunity to have a break and spend time with his family.
My 14 year old daughter (who couldn’t wait until January 1st so she could announce that next year she’ll be 16) can’t wait to go to Hawaii so she can get a tan her friends will be jealous of.
My 11 year old son has decided he wants to learn to surf (and befriend the penguins that are at the resort).
And my 4 year old son is just outraged we chose to go to Hawaii over Queensland, where all the theme parks are!

I am looking forward to going to the beach, just like we do here at home…
Without having to clean the sand out of my car or wash the endless stream of beach towels!

So I really wanted to do one last French Fridays with Dorie before we take off for a few weeks.
And as usual I picked the least practical day.
We had a great, but very late night, at an Irish/Italian wedding…


Followed by an early to start to meet friends at the water slides. They slid non stop for 8 hours…

And then, to top it off, a bunch of the boys came back to our house for a sleepover.
At 10.30 that night they settled down to watch Batman so I took this opportunity to start the dough!

I was exhausted but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed making the dough.
It felt incredibly good and satisfying.

The next morning I finished the recipe and they returned from the park having discovered new ways to ride their scooters and skateboards…

They ran inside demanding to know what smelled like croissants!

The brioche rolls were fresh out of the oven and they really did smell like freshly baked croissants.
When I pulled one apart it was incredibly soft…

And light. And fluffy. And totally delicious!

They shoved them in their mouths.
Some with jam and cream…
Others with Nutella.

They all agreed Dorie’s Bubble-Top Brioche tasted great!
I can’t wait to see what the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie team came up with!

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Golden Cheesy Bread Rolls (Kiflice)

“Until you know that life is interesting – and find it so – you haven’t found your soul.” – Geoffrey Fisher

Why does baking feel so incredibly satisfying and nourishing to the mind and the soul?

Or is that just me?

I get excited finding and planning my next cooking project, buying the ingredients and then carving out the time to play!

I wrote about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his studies about being in what he calls “flow”. Being engrossed in an activity that causes time to disappear, our problems and worries to melt away and we are no longer aware of our surrounding other than as they related to what we are doing. Being engaged in an activity that both challenges us and rewards us, an activity that gives us a sense of accomplishment and improvement, this is his definition of happiness.

Given this definition, then baking, cooking, creating something from scratch, is so wonderfully important to me because it makes me happy!

It’s as simple as that!

Could there be any better reason?!

Making these kiflice, which are Serbian bread rolls, brought back so many childhood memories, they made me feel closer to my Serbian dad who is in rehabilitation after suffering a heart attack and a stroke and they helped me feel closer to my heritage and my family!

Amazing that these little golden bread rolls could do so much!

I saw them when they were featured on FoodPress by Things We Make and followed their link to Maja from Cooks and Bakes who posted her recipe in Serbian and English!
They wouldn’t leave my thoughts and I knew I had my next baking project!

I made them with feta and they turned out magnificent! These little cheese rolls brought happiness not just to me but also my dad!
I’m already planning my next batch with fried leeks and goat’s cheese feta!

As the quote from Geoffrey Rush says, I hope you find that special something which makes your life interesting and in turn find your soul!