Heartbake by Charlotte Ree
Charlotte Ree’s latest cookbook, Heartbake, is filled with more than her favourite recipes. The pages are a glimpse into Charlotte’s life; from her childhood, through to her personal connections – a celebration of life’s two great passions: food and love.
Words & Photography: Hande Renshaw
‘When I’m cooking, I immediately feel grounded. Two things in my life keep me grounded – one is cooking and the other is swimming. If I'm totally unsettled, both those things change my day,’ says Charlotte Ree. Photo: Hande Renshaw
‘By being vulnerable myself I have been able to connect with so many people, that’s why I am so raw in the book.’ Photo: Hande Renshaw
‘This is not a story of revenge. Nor is it a story of regret. It’s a story of losing love but finding myself. This is my story of the healing power of food.’ Photo: Hande Renshaw
In her latest cookbook Heartbake, Charlotte Ree has opened up her kitchen and her heart. Embracing her vulnerability, the book takes us through Charlotte’s life – from growing up with her mother, the end of her marriage and connections she’s made along the way.
Throughout Heartbake, Charlotte describes things we emotionally experience, in particular women, but feel we can’t share in fear of judgement. In her authenticity and transparency throughout the book, she has in turn struck a cord within others, experiencing similar challenges. Although each reader’s experience will differ, the underpinning themes of love, loss, grief and fear resonate strongly.
‘I talk about stuff that people don’t talk about - a lot of stuff that’s traditionally covered in shame. I think I had a whole lotta shame my whole life just because people couldn’t or wouldn’t show a bit more understanding and acceptance for things like a broken family, a divorce, being a single woman at 32 with a measure of success. There’s still weirdness around that - why can’t we champion the imperfections and differences in people instead of singling them out? There is so much stigma and I wish it wasn’t the case.’
Heartbake is part memoir, part recipe book, and part joyous battle cry for those who find themselves lonely at any age, hungry for more from life. ‘This is not a story of revenge. Nor is it a story of regret. It’s a story of losing love but finding myself. This is my story of the healing power of food.’
Charlotte has also recently started a Supper Club, which she hosts for an intimate group of women (all of them strangers who have never met) on her rooftop, in Sydney. ‘Supper Club is about connecting people through food - and I realise that’s my purpose. And specifically connecting women through food. It’s also about connecting to myself, being in my body for the first time, asking myself questions like what I want to eat, what I need to feel and how I want to be comforted that day.’
Supper Club is about giving people an opportunity to connect and share their experiences. ‘By being vulnerable myself I have been able to connect with so many people, that’s why I’m as raw in the book as I am - my whole life I wanted to be seen and heard and that’s what I want for others to have, so I created this safe space on this rooftop where nobody knows anyone. Supper Club is about dispelling reality for a night,’ shares Charlotte.
Below we share a recipe for the book, David Lovett’s focaccia. ‘The focaccia recipe is one that is going to change your life - it’s become the most popular recipe out of Heartbake. So many people are baking it and I think it’s because it’s so simple - it will turn the biggest non-bread baker into a convert.’
Heartbake by Charlotte Ree is published by Allen & Unwin, RRP $39.99. Available where all good books are sold and online.
The focaccia dough sits to prove. Photo: Hande Renshaw
‘Using all your fingers (but not thumbs) on both hands, make deep indents in the dough with your fingertips.’ Photo: Hande Renshaw
“When I am cooking, I immediately feel grounded. Two things in my life keep me grounded – one is cooking and the other is swimming. If I’m totally unsettled, both those things change my day.”
‘The focaccia recipe is going to change your life - it’s become the most popular recipe out of Heartbake. So many people are baking it and I think it’s because it’s so simple - it will turn the biggest non-bread baker into a convert.’ Photo: Hande Renshaw
‘When I am cooking, it’s the one time my mind can be thinking about anything else. I am not on my phone - I am actually present in the moment… I can’t be distracted, I have to focus.’ Photo: Hande Renshaw
“Supper Club is about connecting people through food - and I realise that is my purpose. It’s also about connecting to myself, being in my body for the first time, asking myself questions like, what I want to eat, what I need to feel and how I want to be comforted that day. ”
Heartbake is part memoir, part recipe book. Photo: Hande Renshaw
‘I season it well with sea salt and black pepper, and then drizzle olive oil all over. It’s the ultimate pairing.’ Photo: Hande Renshaw
‘I now realise there is just one focaccia recipe you must memorise and bake for the rest of your life. It is my friend David Lovett’s focaccia, and it is a masterpiece.’ Photo: Hande Renshaw
DAVID LOVETT’S FOCACCIA
In the first lockdown, unlike what appeared to be the rest of the world, I never made sourdough bread. I struggled to maintain a starter – not being able to feed myself, I couldn’t bring myself to feed it. But I did bake tray after tray of focaccia, and became obsessed with perfecting it, even throughout the great supermarket yeast shortage of 2020. I tried countless recipes in my search for perfection. Some called for the seemingly rogue addition of potato, some begged you not to knead, others compelled you to do so forever. There were recipes that called for your dough to be refrigerated and there was even that infamous one that asks you to leave your dough to ferment at room temperature for twelve to fourteen hours. How absurd.
I now realise there is just one focaccia recipe you must memorise and bake for the rest of your life. It is my friend David Lovett’s focaccia, and it is a masterpiece. You only need to use plain flour, and you don’t need to waste your time with strange ingredients or two days of proofing. And you can simply enhance it with any ingredients of your choosing.
I serve alongside a caprese salad, which I make by combining punnets of halved ripe cherry tomatoes with clouds of creamy stracciatella and a couple of handfuls of torn fresh basil leaves on a large serving platter. I season it well with sea salt and black pepper, and then drizzle olive oil all over. It’s the ultimate pairing.
Serves 6–8
INGREDIENTS
350 ml tepid water
10 g dried yeast
10 g caster sugar
500 g plain flour, sifted
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
Polenta, for dusting
Sea salt flakes, to season
250 g punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons rosemary leaves
METHOD
Place the water, yeast and sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix to combine. Add the sifted flour and fine sea salt an, then mix, scraping down the side occasionally with a spatula to incorporate all the flour, until a sticky dough forms (8–10 minutes).This is a wet dough, so be careful not to add more flour than the recipe calls for. The ratios are key.
Lightly oil a deep baking tray (mine is around 20 x 30cm) with extra virgin olive oil and dust with the polenta. Using a pastry scraper, scrape the dough into a ball and place in your tray.
Rub a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil all over the dough ball and set aside to prove until doubled in size (20–30 minutes; the warmer and humid the room, the quicker it will prove.
Stretch the dough to fill the tray (it should be soft and pillowy; be gentle so as to keep as much air in the dough as possible). Using both hands, lift the dough from underneath and gently stretch and pulll it lengthways, then sideways. If it doesn’t quire reach the edges, that’s fine. As it proves the second time, it will expand further. Drizzle 1½ tablespoons of extra virgin oil over the dough and leave to prove for another 10–14 minutes. It will continue to gently rise.
Preheat your oven to 240°C. Using all your fingers (but not thumbs) on both hands, make deep indents in the dough with your fingertips, then drizzle another 1½ tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil all over. Set aside to prove for a further 10-12 minutes. It will rise even more.
Now, when it comes to flavouring your focaccia, the choice is yours. You can leave the homemade dough to shine, serving it with just extra virgin olive oil and sea salt flakes. You could add a sprinkling of oregano leaves, too. You can make what David calls the ‘Bunnings focaccia’ by gently pressing a packet of plain thin pork sausages and 2 teaspoons of rosemary leaves into your focaccia. You can then serve it with sautéed onions and your favourite sauce. But my go-to is pressing halved cherry tomatoes, cut side up, into the dough, and scattering 2 tablespoons of rosemary on top.
After adding your flavourings, drizzle on another 1½ tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and set aside to prove until the doing is popping over the edge of the tray and the oil is about to overflow. Depending on your tray size, you want to aim for your dough to be about 3 cm deep by this point.
Season generously with 2–3 teaspoons of sea salt flakes. Bake until the focaccia is deep golden and sounds hollow when tapped (12–1 5 minutes). Add one final, generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil as soon as the focaccia comes out of the oven, then rest in the tray for about 5 minutes. Turn out on a wire rack to cool for 20–30 minutes.
