worth reading // More ease and pleasure

Birgit Fazis discovered her love of cooking and baking during a two-year stay on the East Coast of the USA. From there she returned home with 72 kg of cookbooks and many ideas in her luggage.

She now lives with her family on a small farm in Bavaria's Fünfseenland region. She is a food and lifestyle blogger, editor, beekeeper and author. She has also published the books "Meine kleine Küche am See" and "Alles von einem Brett".

Birgit Fazi's declaration of love for the diversity of regional and seasonal foods awakens childhood memories with simple recipes such as sourdough bread, thyme honey or apricot tart. The seasonally structured book invites you to enjoy the great happiness of original cuisine with body and soul. In addition to sustainable cooking and baking recipes with step-by-step instructions, blogger Birgit Fazis also reveals simple recipes for ecological cleaning agents and cleaners, nourishing natural cosmetics or DIYs inspired by nature. For example, homemade beeswax cloths find a beautiful and sustainable place in every kitchen, in addition to their practical purpose.

Here is a tiny foretaste of a life with more ease, pleasure and well-being...

SPICY FOCACCIA
with garden herbs

Preparation time
1 ½ hours
+ 9-13 hours resting of the dough

Ingredients
50 g sourdough starter
1 tablespoon honey
500 g light wheat flour (e.g. type 550)
10 g salt
5 tablespoons olive oil
fresh herbs of your choice (e.g. basil, parsley, oregano, rosemary, thyme)
coarse sea salt for sprinkling

The origins of focaccia go back to ancient times, so it's no wonder that this flat bread is still very popular today. Classic focaccia is made with yeast dough, but the savory pastry can also be made with sourdough, which usually makes it more digestible. Our favorite way to enjoy our focaccia is with olive oil, salt and fresh herbs.

1. put the sourdough starter in a large bowl, add 350 ml of cold water and honey and stir until smooth. Then add flour and salt and work everything into a sticky dough with your hands. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rise at room temperature for about 8-12 hours. 2.
Pour the olive oil on a baking tray and spread it evenly with a brush. After the rising time, carefully release the focaccia dough from the bowl with the help of a dough spatula or a dough card and transfer it to the greased baking sheet. Turn the dough once so that it is generously covered with oil on both sides. Cover the dough with some baking paper and let it rise for another hour. 3.
Preheat the oven to 220 °C top/bottom heat. Meanwhile, wash and select the herbs. Gently pull the focaccia dough with your hands into an elongated oval shape. Press light dents into the dough with your fingertips and top with the fresh herbs. Press the herbs lightly to make them adhere to the dough.
Sprinkle the focaccia generously with sea salt and bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

Birgit's tip
The focaccia tastes best when enjoyed warm from the oven with some fresh butter, a spicy dip or tomato sugo.

APRICOT TART
with lavender flowers

Preparation time
about 1 hour + 1 hour
Dough rest

Ingredients
220 g flour
50 g ground almonds
Grate of half an
organic lemon
1 generous pinch of salt
100 g sugar
200 g ice-cold butter
400 g fresh apricots
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons chopped almonds
fresh lavender flowers

This tart tastes like vacation, lightheartedness and the sugary happiness of summer. Crispy shortcrust pastry base, juicy apricots and wonderfully fragrant lavender - a cake dream come true! If you don't like the intensely fragrant lavender flowers, you can simply omit them or replace them with other edible flowers (e.g. chamomile, cornflowers or rose petals). The apricot tart tastes great on its own or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

Mix flour, almonds, lemon zest, salt and half of the sugar in a bowl. Add the ice-cold butter in pieces and mix everything loosely with your hands. Add 1-2 tablespoons of ice cold water and knead the mixture very briskly into a dough. The butter does not have to be fully incorporated into the dough and may still be visible. Cover the dough and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Meanwhile, wash and pit the apricots, cut them into quarters and place them in a bowl. Mix the starch and the remaining sugar together and fold into the apricots. Let everything sit for about 30 minutes. 3.
Preheat the oven to 200 °C top/bottom heat. Roll out the short pastry quickly on a heavily floured surface to a circular thickness of about half a centimeter and place it on a baking sheet lined with baking paper or foil. Spread the fruit on the dough, leaving a border of about 3 cm. Fold the overhanging edge towards the fruit and press it lightly with your fingers. 4.
Whisk the egg yolk and milk together, brush the edge of the dough with it and sprinkle with the chopped almonds. 5.
Bake the apricot tart in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes until golden. Let it cool slightly on the baking sheet and enjoy it lukewarm sprinkled with lavender flowers.

Allgäu mountain cheese soup

Preparation time
45 minutes
For 4 persons

Ingredients
1 shallot
1 potato
1 tablespoon butter
100 ml dry white wine
700 ml vegetable broth
200 ml whipped cream
100 g spicy mountain cheese
salt and pepper
250 g mixed mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
fresh parsley

This soup tastes like winter in the mountains and gives a warm, full feeling in your stomach. Spicy mountain cheese gives the dish an aromatic flavor and creamy texture, while the roasted mushrooms add a pleasant freshness. If you have some stale bread at hand, you can also add some toasted sourdough croutons to the soup. This is also filling and gives the soup even more roasted flavor.

Peel the shallot and potato, cut into bite-sized pieces and sauté in 1 tablespoon of butter until translucent. Deglaze the vegetables with the white wine, let it simmer briefly and pour in the vegetable stock. Next, add the cream and let the soup simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. grate the cheese. Take the soup base off the heat, stir in the mountain cheese, and use a blender to pull it into the soup. Season the soup with salt and pepper and set aside for a short time. 3.
Meanwhile, carefully clean the mushrooms, cut them into thin slices and fry them briefly in olive oil. Remove the fried mushrooms from the heat, season them with salt and pepper and sprinkle them with parsley.
Enjoy the soup with the fried mushrooms and some fresh parsley sprinkled on top.