Unleash some Daring Magic!

I suspect that our lovely hostess for this challenge added the "knead it with your hands" just for me...
You might know that my hands and a sticky gooey mass are not a happy combination, not because I'm afraid I will ruin my manicure (pfff mani what?) but because I dread having all these stuff sticking to, in and between my fingers, I love to bake bread but I seriously love my DeLonghi! Tanna must have had so much fun writing this down! I love you! Really I do! Well not at the time of kneading but before and after..oh yesssss!

In comes the magic! With a little help from my friend Monique who had been a witness and active participant to a memorable challenge, went to New York and came back with.....this!

Don't worry, I will show and tell in my ""Gadgets that.." series, for now the Challenge comes first. I managed to bake this particular recipe three times....
Every time I made a part of this dough in rolls and loaves and saved a part to play with. I must say that I like the loaves better than the rolls, I think the extra handling to make them into rolls made the crumb tighter than I would like to see in a roll.

Inspired by the potatoes in the dough ánd the fact that we Dutch thrive on our PMV (potatoes, meat, vegetables) I decided I'd combine the three in one bread. Added leek to the dough, and rolled cumin seasoned ground beef in the braids, et voilà: "all in one Dutch Dinner Fare". Can't find my pic..will add later if I can find it... together with my notes for baking this with Dutch flour and how many potatoes I used...

Our scheduled bake-off with Challenge Master Tanna and Ilva (who had to back out and watch from the side lines due to unforeseen circumstances, she baked a couple of days later .... missed you!) resulted in focaccia as per the recipe suggested. I must say that I love love love this dough for focaccia! After second rise I spread the dough (without degassing) in a brownie pan, dimpled and drizzled generously with olive oil, topped with chopped black and green olives, capers, raw onions and some lost bits of red pepper. Seriously good! In fact it was so good I had to rescue this part to make a pic!

Part of the dough was rolled out, filled with Tandoori Chicken and mock-braided and was devoured still warm during a weekend afternoon: crispy crust, succulent chicken breast and spices...yum!

Next was trying to bake this particular dough in a Romertopf (or unglazed cloche), which turned out really well, as usual I love the rustic looks of these kinds of bread. Especially when a dough is wetter than most, a cloche is the ideal vehicle to bake in. Follow these hints and it's easy.

All in all a very pleasurable experience, I for one was glad that cows and hens got time off to rest a while, although I suspect they have to be ready for the next challenge! Follow our adventures and click! As she stated in issuing our challenge, Tanna stood up for all savouries out there in saying "you see I am a savory girl and must protect my reputation". Well she did, with a vengeance! Tanna, thanks for dreaming up this challenge, I owe you...big time!