extra virgin olive oil |

I so enjoy making my own bread and buns. What’s better than a fresh, golden-brown bun right out of the oven?! Here is just a quick and simple recipe for some excellent sandwich buns.

Easy Sandwich Buns Printable recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups (512 g) all-purpose flour (used King Arthur)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 cup +/- ¼ cup (250 ml) warm water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Flour for kneading

Preparation:

In a large bowl combine flour, active dry yeast, sugar and salt. Mix well and start adding water. Quantity of water will depend on the flour.

Add the olive oil at the end and mix for 4-5 minutes. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for about 5 minutes.

Now turn on the mixer for another 5 minutes. The dough will look nice and smooth. Shortly knead it by hand on a flour dusted surface. Shape it into a ball, place it back into the greased bowl, cover and let it rise until double in volume (1 to 1.5 hours).

When double in size, place the dough on your working surface, roll it into a square and cut into square shaped buns. I made bigger buns, so I had 9.

Make sure buns are nicely dusted with flour when you place them onto a baking sheet. Cover them and let rise for another hour.

Heat the oven to 450 F (230 C). Bake the buns for about 12-15 minutes. For extra crunchy buns place a cup of water on the bottom of the oven.

Bon Appétit!

This is a wonderful side dish that goes well with fish or any sea food. I’ve tried it first time when I was just a little girl vacationing with my parents at the Adriatic coast of Croatia. It is very simple and easy to make and so rich in flavor. Couple of years ago when we traveled to Bosnia, we also visited Croatian coast and had some excellent fish and potatoes with swiss chard (Blitva – in Croatian). The other day I was looking through our summer vacation photos and just had the urge to cook blitva with some fish.

Island of Pag, Croatia [ this handsome man in the picture is my husband 🙂 ]

Mediterranean Potatoes and Swiss Chard

Serves about 4 – 6 people (excellent side dish to fish or sea food)

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs (750 g) potatoes
1 lb (500 g) Swiss chard
3 – 4 tbsp olive oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)
3 – 4 garlic cloves
salt
fresh ground black pepper

Preparation:

1. Peel potatoes and cut them into bite-size cubes. Boil (not too soft) and strain them. Set aside.

2. Clean and wash Swiss chard, remove the stems by folding leaves into half and cutting them out. Cut leaves into 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) ribbons. Boil them for about 5 minutes in salted water. Strain. (If you want a mashed potatoes effect, reserve about 1/2 cup of boiling water and add to sauteed chard)

3. Crush and finelly chop garlic. Lightly heat olive oil, add garlic and sautee just until fragrant. Now add Swiss chard, sautee for few more minutes and add potatoes. Spice with salt and fresh ground black pepper. That is all.

Enjoy with some salt water fish or other sea food!