Cooking with Thermomix in Switzerland

I've fallen in love with the Bimby (also called the Thermomix) and I want one, even though since PhD'ing again, my husband has taken over most of the cooking. Here in Switzerland, one way to get the Bimby at slightly cheaper price, is to host a demo. You need to invite 3 friends who also love gadets.  Do it before August 31st, 2010, you'll save 150.- SFr. (retail price in CH is 1650.- SFr).

We sat in the garden last night and watched Antonella cook up a storm in minutes with her Bimby.

Vegie-fruit drink for starters, bread, veal with rice and vegies and peach granita were on her menu.

Here's Antonella's delicious bread recipe:

100g "Dinkel" seeds (you can use any seeds)
1 block of fresh yeast (42g)(you can find it in the fresh dough section in Migros or Co-op)
400g flour
pinch of sugar
11/2 ts salt
270g water
50g bacon, cubed (or olives, herbs or whatever you fancy)

Baking tray, lined with baking paper

 Add the seeds to the Theromix and grind them for 20-40 sec on the Turbo setting. You end up with something that looks like flour. Add the remaining ingredients and let the Thermomix do the kneading ('Knettaste' for 3 min). Here the machine is absolutely amazing!

Place the bread into a cold oven (it rises as the oven heats). Bake at 200C for about 30 minutes.

The texture of this bread is a bit denser than bread that has been allowed to prove before baking. If you have time to let the dough prove for 30-60 minutes before baking, you can decrease the amount of yeast to about half.

Summer is finally back in Switzerland (at least for the next few days)!