Baking Powder Doughnuts

A teatime treat or something to go with the morning coffee - doughnuts hit the spot. Working in Harare I would always arrive at work very early - often long before anyone else. I made a point of stopping at the local bakery - usually 'Bakers Inn' and picking up a doughnut to have with my coffee which I made before doing anything else! Somehow doughnuts have that wonderful comforting effect on me. Coffee and doughnut downed i was ready to start the day! This is an easy recipe and goes a long way. Don't re-roll the centres of the doughnuts but fry them - decorate or roll in sugar and serve separately. 4 1/2 cups Sifted flour 3 1/2 teaspoons Baking powder 1 teaspoon Salt 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon 3 Eggs 1 teaspoon Vanilla 3/4 cup White sugar 3 tablespoons Softened butter or margarine 3/4 cup Milk Beat eggs and sugar. Sift flour, salt, spice and baking powder. Add vanilla, melted butter or margarine, milk and dry ingredients to egg and sugar mixture. Make a soft dough and roll to 1/3 inch thick. Cut as for doughnuts using a cutter or a glass - with a smaller cutter for the centres and drop into hot oil (375 degrees). Fry until golden brown. Serve plain or roll in confectioners sugar or ice with vanilla or chocolate icing.

Fresh Herb Bread

If you have a bread maker making fresh bread to go with soups or stews should be second nature. Homemade bread has so much more flavour than the shop made variety. One can ring the changes on a basic recipe to make something very special. This recipe uses fresh herbs. Buy a few herb plants and plant them outside your kitchen door - they flourish well in the Zimbabwe climate and once you are used to using them you will never go back to dried herbs out of a packet! This bread cuts well and has the most amazing aroma. It smells so good fresh from baking it is hard to resist letting it cool before eating! 1 cup Plus 2 tbl milk 2 tablespoons Margarine or butter 3 cups flour 2 tsp Chopped fresh sage leaves 1 tbl Chopped fresh basil leaves 1 tbl Chopped fresh oregano leaves 2 tsp Chopped fresh thyme leaves 1/4 cup Chopped fresh parsley 2 tbl Sugar 1 tsp Salt 1 1/2 tsp Yeast (dry) Place on the ingredients in the bread machine in the order they appear above. It is important to do this so that the yeast does not come into contact with the liquid too soon. Select basic white cycle. Use medium or light crust colour.