I think we all know the situation: It’s a holiday, all shops are closed, you are just starting to prepare dinner while your family and guests are chatting in the living room and you realize that you forgot to purchase that one ingredient that you simply cannot do without… Or your guests could not really make up their minds this holiday and you settled for a dinner for one when you get that phone call announcing that everyone is standing on your doorstep…

Last New Year’s Eve, it happened to me that I had to improvise for an impromptu dinner for two and I did not really have anything to offer on the side of the fondue meat that I had in a lucky guess bought the night before, dead-tired and five minutes before closing time just after arriving from the train station. With dinner time around two hours ahead, there was obviously not enough time to start preparing a yeast or sourdough bread. So I chose to make this quick no-yeast bread which is not only ready to be put on the table within around an hour and a half but also happens to be really delicious.

The ingredients for the dough are quite basic, if you do not have buttermilk, you can also use yoghurt or sour cream. The filling of zucchini, cheddar cheese and chives works really well but you can obviously skip these or use other fillings (such as chilis, parmesan, pumpkin…).

Sanni

Ingredients:

• 200 grams of wholemeal wheat flour
• 50 grams of wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons of baking powder
• 1.5 tablespoons of baking soda
• 0.5 tablespoon of salt
• 250 grams of buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 60 grams of melted butter
• 0.5 bundle (ca. 15 grams) of fresh chives, finely chopped
• 0.5 small zucchini, finely chopped
• 60 grams of shredded cheddar cheese

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan oven).
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg, then incorporate the melted butter.
4. Pour the mix over the dry ingredients and use a baking spoon to combine.
5. Once you have a smooth batter, incorporate the chives, zucchini and finally the cheese.
6. Grease a small baking tin (20x9x9 cm) and pour the batter in.
7. Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes (insert a toothpick to check – the cake is done when it comes out clean). Let cool down a bit and serve warm with some salted butter.