Technical Bake 2: Iced Fingers

I'm not doing the technical bakes in any order. I have decided that number two is the iced finger. I remember having these when I was growing up, yummy doughy fingers with sweet icing. These Paul Hollywood fingers have the addition of fresh cream and strawberry jam and I have to say their addition makes for a great afternoon sweet treat.
I started to make these last Sunday morning and I made the full amount, 12 iced fingers. Might as well go the whole hog. With all the ingredients surrounding me I added all the dough ingredients to a bowl, holding back about a third of the water. I put my bowl on the scales so that I could add the rest of the water but for some reason I just added all the water in my jug rather than weighing it and got a very, very watery dough. I know it's supposed to be watery but this was too much. So I had to throw it away and start over. Second time around I got it right.
The dough was still very wet and kneading was almost impossible, I had more on my fingers than on the surface. In the end I just gave up and put in back in the bowl to rise and hoped for the best. An hour later and it had risen beautifully and after knocking it back I divided into 12 balls which I then rolled into finger shapes and placed on a greased tray. These are covered and left to prove for 45 minutes until doubled in size and all touching. They then went into a preheated oven (200 degrees) for ten minutes. These were left to cool and I made the icing. I followed Paul's instructions to dip the roll in the icing and then smooth it with your fingers, it worked a treat. I then piped the cream and tried to pipe the jam but I bought jam with fruit bits in (I know!) so a spoon did the trick.
One of the things that Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry looked for in the 12 iced fingers was a consistent size. On that, I'm afraid I failed. But I think Paul would have been happy with my "bake". They were soft, sweet and moreish (I had two, I confess). The extras came into work with me on Monday and got an office thumbs up.

Deathly Beautiful!

A friend recently gave me some Halloween themed cupcake holders and last week, it being Halloween and all, I decided to try them out. I didn't make Halloween themed cakes, in fact they were rosewater flavoured butterfly cakes! I use Nigella's cupcake recipe from How to Be a Domestic Godess, it never fails. I replaced the vanilla extract with rosewater to give a delicate floral flavour. So these may have been spooky on the outside but sweet and soft on the inside.

Technical Bake 1: Tarte au Citron

My challenge began yesterday with my mini Tartes au citron a la Mary Berry's masterclass. I decided to do mini ones because if I had a whole one, well it would be eaten. Simple really!
I started with the pastry and rather than dividing by two I made the full quantity and then froze half of it (more tartes in the near future). The cleverest thing about this recipe is Mary Berry's tip for rolling out the pastry. I always have that problem of getting the rolled out pastry from the work surface to the tart tin without it breaking up and Mary has the solution. Roll the pastry out on the base of your tin! Place it on some greaseproof pastry and mark a circle about 4cm bigger than your base, flour the base and then place the ball of pastry on top. You then roll out as normal, moving the paper rather than the pastry. Once it is the correct size fold in the edges, lift the base and drop into the tin. You can then unfold the pastry and press into the fluted edges, no breaking or sticking, genius! The other tip was to use tinfoil to hold your baking beans for the blind bake, it makes it so much easier to support the beans and to take them out half way through. As a result of these I managed to get two almost perfect pastry cases, something I have never managed before. Thanks Mary.
The top tip for getting the filling into your case without spilling any is to fill the case once it is on your baking tray in the oven. As my tartes were smaller I knew I needed to alter the baking time, so I left them in for 20mins (rather than the 30-35 in the recipe). I checked them for the "wobble" but they were pretty much set so I was a bit worried that I had failed on the first hurdle. I took them out and let them cool for about 5 minutes before moving them from the tins to the serving plates.
All that was left was the tasting. I dusted them with icing sugar just before I served them and we dove in. The pastry was nice and thin and it wasn't soggy and the filling was smooth and lemony. I think that Mary would have been pleased with my first effort and now I know how to do it I will be making it a lot more often.

My Mission Should I Choose to Accept It...

Instead of being out enjoying our great summer (!) I have been enjoying the wonderful Great British Bake Off. I missed the first episode but from then on I was hooked, what great telly! I loved it. And the right person won, Jo was great. Just amazing what they achieved. With the announcment of the winner I thought that was it and was away for a couple of weeks and came back to another two episodes. God bless the series link on the sky machine. Masterclasses with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood where they have made all the technical challenge bakes with lots of hints and tips. What a treat. And as I was watching the second one yesterday I had an idea, I would make all eight. It was just an idea and then I thought, why not? They are all yum and I will learn lots too. So that is my mission and I have accepted it. There isn't a timeframe on this (not practical really) but over the next few weeks I hope I can complete the task. I'm looking forward to all of them but I think the Battenburg may be the last one, my least favourite. I have chosen to start with the Tarte au Citron, not sure why, it just looked so good. I'm going to make two mini ones rather a big one so I have decided to halve the ingredients. So more later with results and pictures.

Knitting Projects Finished Over the Summer

Just a couple of my knitting projects completed over the summer (I have another on the go and another that I'm working on at the moment).
As mentioned before the cushion has yet to be delivered and the doggie is happily ensconced in his new home.

Buttery, Sugary Heaven

A friend went to Paris during the summer and came back with tales of a Breton pastry called Kouign Aman. I had never heard of it and neither had my friend but after having it about three times during her week there she was a convert. I needed to try this new confection. My friend sent me the link to a blog by an American living in Paris with a recipe for the Kouign Aman and with visitors from France coming that weekend I had my opportunity.
My sister-in-law and my niece lent a helping hand, the former reading the instructions and the latter helping with the mixing etc. David Lebovitz's recipe was very easy to follow with pictures along the way to help you keep on track. This is just a mixture of water, flour, sugar, butter and yeast and what you get at the end is divine. I followed the cooking time and temperature to the letter of the recipe but it cooked in less time (30 minutes) and was a bit burned. I served it anyway (I had some other cakes too so not a disaster) and by the end of the evening there was none left, it was a hit.
After that weekend I was using the oven to bake some bread and noticed that there was a lot of solidified butter at the bottom of the oven and realised that it was butter that had escaped from the Kouign Aman! I had put it in a loose-bottomed tin.
I had cause to make it again the following weekend for a friends house warming. I learned my lesson about the oven temperature and timing but not about the loose-bottomed tin! I used a smaller springform tin and the tart rose better than the first time but there was butter escape again. I guess it gives me an excuse to make it again and this time I will steer clear of the loose-bottomed tin!
The reaction to the second one was similar to the first, there were people fighting for the last piece. It's great that you can create such a wonderful taste from just five ingredients isn't it?
P.S. I'm afraid I didn't take any pictures but they looked pretty much the same as the ones on the blog, really they did!

Brioche Bread

One of my baking experiments over the summer was a brioche. I made the Colomba successfully and brioche is a similar dough, ie enriched with butter and eggs, so I figured I was half way there.
One of my acquisitions in the last couple of months was the first Ottolenghi cookbook and it has become my go-to cookbook. The savoury recipes are so good, lots of flavour and spice. They are bit phaffie but worth it. On the other hand, the phaffiness of the baking section hasn't endeared itself to me. There seems to be two steps too many in most of the recipes. Don't get me wrong, the finished product is very good, it's just the journey that is a bit over long.
Having said that, I chose the recipe for brioche from it. The one thing I would say about this particular recipe is that it only gives instructions for a stand mixer, there isn't an alternative hand method, which I found annoying. I have a stand mixer so I used it. They say follow the recipe the first time and then go off piste. The result was a loaf that tasted like brioch but had the texture of bread. Not that lovely soft, teary texture that a briche should have.
We ate it all the same because it tasted good but a brioche it was not. Next time I will find a recipe for a handmade one and see if I can succeed that way.

I'm Back....Just in Case you Were Missing Me

Hello again, I realise that I have been absent for a few months. To those of you who have missed me (or at least noticed my absence) I am sorry for the gap in posting. You could call it a summer break, although I think it has been longer than the summer. It's not as if I haven't been productive in the last few months, I have been baking and knitting so I guess it's life that has been getting in the way.
I have been making lots of bread (sour cherry and walnut ring, walnut and carroway, baguettes to name but a few) and baking lots of yummy cakes and slices (courgette loaf, chocolate loaf, pear and amaretti crumble cakes, cherry slices etc) and there are a couple of these that I will elaborate on in future blogs (can you stand the suspense?).
I have also completed a couple of knitting projects. I finished the second cushion to match the one I did earlier this year for friends (it has yet to be delivered but will hopefully be with the new owners soon). A feind also commissioned me to knit a draft excluder in the shape of a doggie! He is in his new home and apparently making himself useful.
So it's been a summer of much activity and I'm hoping to keep you clued to your cakes and cardies from now all with tales of jams, pickles, homegrown veg and much, much more. More later!

The Loaf in the Picture

Since making my first loaf of bread with my starter/leaven I had put it in the fridge for the next time. As I don't make bread every day I figured it would be fine there until my next adventure. You do have to remember to re-activate about three days before you want to use it so last Thursday morning I fished it out of the fridge to see how it had weathered the last couple weeks. All looked well so I just added 50mls of water and then 4 tbsp four mixed it all up and popped it in the cupboard. Friday morning dawned and when I checked the starter it had come to life again, bubbling up nicely. I removed three quarters of this mixture and then added 100mls of water and 125g flour, mixed and returned to the cupboard. The same on Saturday morning and it was ready to use on Sunday when I had decided to make the Currant and Cassis bread from The Handmade Loaf. I didn't have any currants but I did have raisins, they're all the same really aren't they? Sorry Dan if I'm flouting all recipe laws but sometimes it's whats in the cupboard that works!
Ingredients:
250g Currants or Raisins in this case
150g water
50g cassis
For Dough
250g Strong White flour
150g Rye Flour
1 and a half tsp salt
280g of the soaked Currants, drained
150g soaking liquid plus water to make the required weight at 20% (not sure I understand these percentages but I added enough water to make the dough consistency I am used to)
30g cassis
100g water at 20 degrees
three quarters tsp yeast
200g rye leaven (I used my white leaven)
The first thing to do is to soak the currants, mix them with the cassis and water and bring to the boil, remove from the heat and leave to cool overnight (or in my case about an hour, I never read the recipe the night before!).
Mix all the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another and then add the wet to the dry mixing well. Dan says with your hands but I'm afraid I'm a bit squeamish about that so I use my dough scraper. It gets mixed, either way.
Now Dan Lepard has a very different way of kneading, it is done for a very small amount of time (10-15 seconds) left for 10 minutes and repeated twice. This is done on an oiled surface. All very different but it works just as well.
The dough is then "turned". This is a way of stretching the dough to elongate the bubbles. You form the dough into a rectangle then stretch it in one direction and fold (in thirds) and the stretch the other direction and fold. For this recipe you turn the bread after 30, 60 and 90 minutes.
Then divide the dough in two and form into batons and place (seam side up) on floured tea towels (or proving baskets it you have them), cover and leave for 2 hours. If you are still with me we are almost there. It seems using the leaven makes for a longer bread making session but it is almost therapeutic really, all the kneading, turning and proving. And I know I should have been doing the housework in between but I found myself reading!
Once these have doubled in size turn them onto a flour dusted tray and make a cut from top to bottom. Place in a pre-heated oven (210) for 45 minutes. Mine were done after 35 but then that's my oven.
And for the first time the slashing worked and I got a loaf that looked almost like the picture in the book! I was very proud as I buttered a slice and ate with relish.

Chocolate Cake á la Irvine Welsh

That's something I never thought I would write! I did indeed make a chocolate cake in the style of Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. How I hear you ask, what are you talking about Sharon?
Well, as you will know I work for a publisher and one of our books is a collection of literary pastiche, parodies if you will. The author has taken 17 authors, created recipes and written them in the style of the author. The book is called Kafka's Soup (you can guess what Kafka makes!) and the recipe I attempted was the Rich Chocolate Cake á la Irvine Welsh. I have to say it was a pretty surreal experience but it nonetheless produced a wonderfully rich and moist cake. This was a dry run because I will be making it for a talk by the author and thought I had better try it first.

Ingredients:
250g Butter
500g Caster Sugar
40g Cocoa Powder
150g Milk Chocolate
250mls Coffee
2 Eggs
275g Self-raising flour
375ml Port

Icing:
200g Dark chocolate
100g Caster sugar
100g Double cream
100mls Kahlua (optional, but why wouldn't you?!)

The recipe is written in the Scottish vernacular and reads like a drug cook-up as you can imagine so getting to the actual instructions takes a few readings! I did find myself reading it out loud in my best Scottish accent. It's pretty simple really, melt the butter and sugar and add the cocoa powder. Once they are all melted together add the milk chocolate and coffee and stir. Take it off the heat and add the eggs and flour. I added the flour all at once but it went lumpy and then floated to the top so I had to do a lot of stirring and breaking up. (I've just made the second one and I sieved the flour and added it a bit at a time and this worked a treat). Finally, add the half bottle of port, it does say it's a rich chocolate cake and it lives up to its name.
Once all the ingredients are in the batter is very liquid and I wondered how on earth this was going to work. But I divided it between the two prepared tins and popped them in the oven at 200 degrees, it said for 1 hour but it was ready in about 50. And it worked, it sort of set rather than baked. The consistency is not like a sponge or cake more like a tort or baked cheesecake.
Let the cakes cool while you make the icing. Add all the icing ingredients together and heat until all melted and thickened. Use some icing to sandwich the cakes together and then pour the rest over the top using palette knife to smooth it out. I brought this to a BBQ the next day and for some reason there was none left at the end of the day.
As I mentioned above I have now made it again for the author's talk and it went down a treat. The author was kind enough to say that the cake was up there with some of his efforts, as I say, too kind. But you can't go wrong with chocolate and booze!
Warning: This is a certifiacte 18 cake!

The Results Are In

I left you hanging on Saturday, would the loaves work out or not? Would leaving them overnight to continue rising work or would I be facing a disaster?
The rising overnight wasn't a problem, they rose beautifully. The one that was in the proper linen lined banneton came put easily but when it landed on the baking tray it sort of flattened a bit. I put it in the oven at 220C. This was where I started to worry because the time stated in the recipe was 50-70 minutes! This is a lot longer than I have baked any bread in the past but maybe it has something to do with the leaven. To be on the safe side I set the timer for 20 minutes. When I checked it had risen a bit and browned but not enough for me to worry and remove it so I left it for another 20 minutes. At that point it was definitely done and if I had left it any longer it would have burned. I now have an oven thermometer and that was correct so not sure if it was my oven or the timing that was wrong.
The second loaf was in a bowl in a tea towel and when I went to upturn it onto the baking tray the dough had stuck to the tea towel! It looked pretty ropey so I re-shaped it and into the oven it went. This one was a strange shape to say the least but rose very well in the baking. Again this was only in the oven for about 35 minutes.
Having said all that they tasted yum (just buttered with some blackcurrant jam) and had a good texture. I would say that the experiment was a success and I'm looking forward to the next loaf/loaves but I won't forget my fresh yeast in the fridge too. It really depends on the type of bread you want.

White Leaven Bread

It's day six in natural leaven week and will I be able to use it to make a loaf of bread today? I went to the cupboard first thing this morning to check progress and it had doubled in size again overnight, I think it may have worked! What an amazing thing. Just by mixing a few easily obtained ingredients you can make this wonderful thing that I can now use to make bread. Isn't chemistry wonderful?
On this high I went out to get some shopping and on my return checked out the recipe for the White Leaven Bread, the first recipe in The Handmade Loaf. I wish I had read the recipe a bit closer before going out! It takes all day, start at 8am and the bread comes out of the oven about 12 hours later! Deja vu, it's Colomba all over again. But not being one to be put off by the length of time a recipe takes I started at about 1pm.
Although the recipe calls for it to be baked the same day I think I will put the dough in the fridge overnight and the bake it in the morning. I've done this before with a yeast bread and it worked so we shall give it a go.

Ingredients:
200g white leaven
375g cold water
500g Strong White Flour
1 and a half tsp salt
Semolina for dusting
There is also an optional 1 and a half tsp ground malted grain and as I didn't have any and it's optional I left it out.

Whisk the leaven with the water until mixed and then add the flour and salt. The instructions are to then get your hands in and mix it all together to a soft dough. I really don't like getting my hands into dough when it's a this stage (I know...) so I used a wooden spoon, it worked perfectly fine. The dough is left in the bowl for 10 minutes. It is then kneaded for 10-15 seconds on a lightly oiled surface and left for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, clean out the bowl and lightly oil it. When the 10 minutes is up knead it again for the 10-15 seconds, shape into a ball and pop in the bowl. Leave for 10 minutes. You can see where this is going. You basically repeat this but the next time the dough is left for 30 minutes, then an hour and then 2 hours. The dough is just a dream to work with, silken, smooth, elastic. Very different to working with traditional yeast.
After the 2 hour rise you then divide the dough into two, shape into balls and leave for 15 minutes. Prepare two bowls for the dough. I have one linen covered bowl and for the other loaf I floured a tea towel and popped it in a bowl (as per the instructions, I wasn't just doing my own thing).
This is where I am at this moment, just waiting to pop the dough into their prepared bowls. I will then put them in the fridge overnight and bake tomorrow. So pictures of the finished articles tomorrow. Here's hoping my fridge rising works.

Natural Leaven: Day Five

Another late night last night but no rest for the leaven-makers of this world. As the boyfriend went off to bed I opened the cupboard to complete my week of bread fun. The leaven had really bubbled up over the last day, the mixture had almost doubled in size. It had a lovely sour smell too.
Instructions for today were to discard three quarters of the mixture and then add in 100g of water at 20C and 125g of strong white flour. When I poured away the three quarters you could see the big bubbles that had formed, it reminded me of the texture of the sponge stage when I was making Colomba. Water and flour added and mixed and back in the cupboard with crossed fingers for a loaf tomorrow.
And off to bed with me too.

Natural Leaven: Day Four

It's getting exciting now. I've just had a look and there is definitely something happening. There were some bubbles, still very liquid and the water was separating from the solids. And the smell was even more sour, I really got a sense of the smell you get from a sourdough bread.
Instructions for today were to remove and throw away three quarters of the mixture and then strain it to remove the raisins. I got rid of the raisins when I was throwing away the excess. The raisins looked very swollen and pale, like all the goodness had been stripped out of them. I then added 100g of water at 20C and mixed it well. Then its just strong white flour today, 125g. The mixture now has the consistency of the sloppy dough. Back into the cupboard with it. Same time same place tomorrow.

Natural Leaven: Day Three

As I was coming home last night (it was past midnight) I kept thinking about my concoction in the cupboard and that I had to feed it once I got in. So even though it was late, a school night and I had drunk a few glasses of wine the first thing I did when I got in was check out the leaven.
It didn't look much different from day two, shiny on top with maybe a few bubbles but it definitely smelt different. A definite souring from yesterday.
Yesterday's feed was 100g of water at 20C and 4 tsp each of rye and strong white flour. Water in first again then the flours. Back into it's cupboard ready for feeding later this evening.

Natural Leaven: Day Two

I'm a bit later than I should be tonight with my next stage but it is Lindy Hop on Tuesdays so I'm just in.
According to the instructions on day two the leaven shouldn't look too different from day one. I've just opened it and had a look and smell. It's supposed to look shiny "as the solids separate from the water and sink to the bottom" and it pretty much looks like that (see the picture). It smells of flour and raisins, sort of sweet.
So I have just fed it with another 50g of water at 20C and then 2 rounded tsp each of rye flour and strong white flour. Mix the water in first and then add the flours. Then the lid is back on and it's left for another 24 hours.
It will be later tomorrow night as I'm out again. I will do the feeding and let you know how it's going the following morning, I know you will be waiting!

Natural Leaven: Day One

When I started this breadmaking lark back in January I had read about "starters" and "leavens" etc. This is where you use the natural yeast found in grains and fruit. These are mixed with flour and water and the natural yeasts multiply and ferment. This leaven is then used in your breadmaking in the place of yeast.
I recently bought Dan Lepard's The Handmade Loaf and on reading it I have decided it's time to give this whole leaven thing a go. He makes it sound very easy, hopefully it is Sharon-proof!
The instructions he gives are over 6 days so I will keep a record here, both in words and pictures, to keep you up to date with my adventure. On day 6 I should be able to use this to make my first loaf, i.e. on Saturday.

Day One:
50g water at 20C
2 rounded tsp rye flour
2rounded tsp strong white flour
2 rounded tsp currants or raisins (I have raisins)
2 rounded tsp live low-fat yoghurt
These are the ingredients needed for day one. I have them all, I will leave you for the moment while I get the ball rolling.

I'm back (about 15 minutes later, but that includes a trip to the shop around the corner).
I have mixed all the above ingredients in an airtight container. I leave it at room temperature for 24 hours. I haven't taken a piture today as there is nothing to see except a sort of greyish slop. But more tomorrow with the first picture.

Guest Blogging Again

Follow this link to read about my first attempt at Hot Cross Buns and my second guest blog on My Kitchen Table.

My Big Colomba Easter

Last Easter I started a tradition, to bake an Easter cake, a traditional Easter cake. I know one year does not a tradition make but this year I made another step towards the establishing of this tradition. Last year I went to England for my inspiration and baked a Simnel cake (you must remember marzipan-ball gate?!) and it worked a treat. This year I went to Italy and found a rich seam of seasonal baking and cooking. They really take it all very seriously, there is a dish or cake for most big celebrations. And the Italian Easter cake is a Colomba.
This is a Panntetone-style cake that is baked in the shape of a dove and topped with flaked almonds and pearl sugar. As I was looking around for a recipe I found that my new favourite site, Bakery Bits, had just posted a recipe and they sold the dove-shaped cases too, result. I ordered the cases and then made sure I had all the ingredients (I won't list all the ingredients, they are fairly extensive, so follow the link here to get the recipe). I wanted to make a few over the holidays and decided to practice on work, my willing guinea pigs. So it was Wednesday evening before Easter and I was ready.
Having read through the recipe I realised that I would need about 6 hours to complete it (and that was if all went well), my estimated completion time was about 00.30. But nil desperandum. With that in mind I started the first stage, the sponge. A mix of yeast, flour, warm water, egg yolks and sugar which you leave for 30 minutes when it bubbles up and almost triples in size. You then add a bit more yeast, flour, butter and warm water and mix. Cover this with clingfilm and leave it to double in size (1 to 2 hours). I left it for an hour and it had doubled by then I added all the rest of the ingredients. This makes a dough which you knead until smooth and elastic and leave this to rise until it has trebled, about 3 to 4 hours! It was already 9pm by now so I was hoping for the lower end of the rising time.
I left it for about 2 hours in the end. You then cut the dough in half and flatten each and press the mixed peel into the dough and role into two logs. One log should be longer than the other and forms the main body length of the dove and the other should be slightly shorter and forms the wings. And now, you guessed it, more rising, about 2 to 3 hours. Again I scrimped on this and it went in the oven at about 11.45. You have to suffer for your art!
And what a triumph, it looked so good, it rose beautifully and was lovely and shiny and crusty on top. I couldn't find any pearl sugar but it still looked good and the tasting the next day proved successful.
Number two was a bit less time sensitive, I had the whole day. But because the weather was so good I put the dough in the conservatory to rise which really speeded up the process. This one went to the in-laws for Easter. I think this was the best of the three. Number three was for a Royal Wedding gathering we had, it was still a yum Colomba but the middle one was definitely my best effort.
I'm already thinking about next year and what country to look to to continue my tradition!

Baked Alaska, at Last

As well as the mis-shapen olive loaves I planned on finally making a proper sized Baked Alaska, at last. I had found a recipe in Rachel Allen's Bake and decided to make the base the night before.
Rachel called it a biscuit base which seemed weird to me as I remember a sponge base from my mothers baked alaska, but I ploughed on thinking Rachel knows better than me.

Ingredients:
For Base:
25g butter
25g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
Half a tsp vanilla extract
60g flour
Pinch baking powder
Meringue:
3 egg whites
Pinch of cream of tartar
200g caster sugar
and 1 litre good quality ice-cream.

Already looking at the ingredients for the base I had my doubts, very small quantities so it won't be very thick, but.... Cream the butter until soft, add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Sift the flour and baking powder and mix until it forms a dough. Put it in clingfilm and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes. I rolled out the dough to the size required, but it's here that my doubts gathered steam. Rachel said to roll it until it was 1cm thick. If I'd done that I would have been making a mini one again so I rolled it to the size I needed and it was about 3mm thick. In fact, it was a biscuit. But looking at the picture in the book the base was definitely thicker. I went ahead and baked it but all the while thinking this can't be right.
After sleeping on it I decided to ditch the thin base and make a sponge, your basic 125g butter/sugar/self-raising flour with 2 eggs and vanilla extract baked for about 20 minutes at 180. That was more like it.
To get the ice cream into a dome shape you leave it out of the freezer to soften and then transfer to a bowl about an inch smaller than your base. Mould it into the dish, smooth the top and pop back in the freezer until you need it.
When you are ready to assemble take the ice cream out of the freezer. Put your base on to a baking tray. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, add half the sugar and the cream of tartar and whisk until stiff peaks form. Add the rest of the sugar and fold in with a metal spoon. Ease the ice cream on to the base and quickly cover with the meringue making sure you cover right down to the base. Bake in the oven at 220 for about 4 minutes until the meringue is set and pale gold. Serve to expressions of great awe from your guests!

Bread Mis-Shapes

Just when you think you've mastered something it throws you a curve ball and you realise that there is a lot more to learn. I know I've only been making bread for a few months but I was starting to feel confident. Shows what I know!
With friends coming over for lunch last Sunday I wanted to show them how I had progressed in the bread-making stakes and as I was making a lamb tagine I thought a nice olive bread would go a long way to soaking up those spicy juices.
The dough was a rye dough (400g Strong White Flour and 100g Rye with 10g yeast, 10g salt and 350g water). The olive part comes from olive paste which is easily made. Take a jar of olives (in this case black), drain and then whizz up with some herbs (thyme, basil and oregano) and a dash of extra virgin olive oil. Easy.
Once the dough has rested for an hour you divide it into three (this qty makes three loaves). Take each one in turn and flatten, spread about a tablespoon of your olive paste over it and then shape into a loaf. They then rest until they have doubled in size. So far so easy.
The problem arose when I tried to transfer the loaves to the baking stone in the oven. Without the aid of a peel (a spade-like wooden implement used to transfer dough to the oven) the first loaf just collapsed on me and I had to quickly re-shape it and chuck it on the stone. I then decided that a baking tray would be the best option for the other two but loaf number two wasn't having any of it and it collapsed. I fashioned it into another shape and managed to get loaf number three onto the baking tray without too much damage. What a palaver! Then then baked for about 20 minutes and came out as you see them above, three very different loaves! Despite that they went down ok with the guests, I guess looks don't matter so much when it comes down to it.

Pizza Night

Sorry about the gap in posting, I had a week of London Book Fair and then a week of catching up and no time for baking or blogging. Work getting in the way of life again!
Now that I have mastered the basics of the dough making I am branching out into other dough-based food items other than bread. With that in mind I decided to try my hand at pizza last weekend. I chose my toppings first (mozzarella, pepperoni and basil) a classic combo I felt.
The dough is an olive dough, similar to the focaccia that I made recently, although it does call for pizza flour but I just used my normal strong white flour. Ingredients are pretty much the same as usual but you replace 50g of the water with olive oil then knead and leave to rest for an hour. After an hour you then make it into the pizza base, I went for a rectangle. I had some problems stretching the dough, it wasn't having it so I had to flatten it with gusto which meant that it was a bit thin in the middle and the crust was a bit too thick. But who doesn't like a thick crust?
For the tomato base I dry roasted a couple of tomatoes in the oven with some herbs and a smidgen of olive oil (about 30 minutes at 180) then whizzed them up. Spread this on the base and then layered up all the other toppings. Then it's in the oven at 200 for about 20 minutes until the crust is browned and risen and the toppings are sizzling.
Tell you what, it beats Domino's, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut and all the rest into a cocked hat! By that I mean it was most enjoyable!

Watch That Dough Rise!

On Sunday I wanted to make something, either bread (I made a raisin and caraway loaf on Saturday) or a cake. After extensive cookbook searching I landed on a bread from Rachel Allen's Bake, a Cardamom Bread. This recipe is a bit more of a phaff than the ones I have been using but never being one to shy away from new bread making experiences I ploughed on.
Ingredients:
125ml Water
75g Butter
50g Caster Sugar plus and extra tsp
175ml warm water
15g Fresh Yeast (I'm only giving you this option!)
1 egg
Half tsp salt
1tbsp freshly ground cardamom (from about 28 pods)
600g plain flour, sifted
Firstly boil the water and butter together until the butter is melted and leave to cool. Mix 60mls of the warm water, 1 tsp caster sugar and yeast in a jug and leave for 5mins until it starts bubbling.
In another bowl whisk the egg, caster sugar and salt and then whisk in the remaining warm water. When the butter mixture has cooled but is still warm add the yeast mixture, the egg mixture and the cardamom and stir to combine. Add the flour and mix. Knead until smooth and soft.
Rachel says to leave it to prove for 2 hours for the first rising and 20 minutes for the second but I did it for an hour and an hour (as I have been doing). After the first rising I divided the dough in two and shaped them into loaves and put them in lined loaf tins for the second rising.
And my God what a rising, this fresh yeast is genius stuff. You'll see from the pictures the first rise and then the finished loaves. This is almost a brioche-type bread and was lovely fresh out of the oven with butter (or honey if you're that way inclined) or toasted after a couple of days. The cardamom gives it a fragrant, almost minty taste. In fact it would go very well with foie gras and a nice Beaumes de Venise wine, heaven.

One Cushion Down....

Last weekend I finished the first of two cushions that I'm making for a couple of friends of mine. This one is a lovely pale green colour and the second one is cream (but the wool has a lovely bobbly texture).
I bought the amount of wool that I thought I would need but I didn't factor in my inability to calculate the amount of wool needed for the pattern! I'm very bad at working out how much wool I need if I'm using a different wool from the one recommended in the pattern. I mostly get it right, more luck than judgement I would say. This time I got it very wrong but I managed to get another ball of the wool with the same dye number so all was well. But as I got to the end of the cushion it became clear that I would just have enough to finish it but I might not have enough to sow it up, oops.
After blocking it out I started to sew up one side when I discovered that the wool is not very strong and when I pulled the stitches to tighten the seam the wool snapped. I then re-started from the other ends and, you guessed it, almost at the end it snapped again. Much cursing later I finished one side but there wasn't enough wool left for the other side. I went searching for a wool that would match and found a grey wool in my stash, but would it show? Only one way to find out. Happily because I use mattress stitch when sewing up the seam is invisible and so is the grey wool!
Once all sewed up I stitched on the buttons using a lovely dark brown and voila, one cushion. I am now moving on to the second one, I think I may have the same problem with the amount of wool but not to worry I'll find a way around it.

The Right Tools for the Job

Now being a fresh yeast user I was excited to make my first loaf. I went to the Rye dough chapter in my book and decided on the caraway and raisin bread, I do love the taste of caraway.
The first thing was to find some Rye flour which wasn't too difficult, Holland & Barrett in Peckham came to my rescue on Saturday evening. The recipe for the dough is 100g rye flour, 400g white flour, 10g yeast, 10g salt and 350g water. You work the dough as normal until it's almost ready and then you add the raisins (250g) and a teaspoon of seeds. As usual the raisins were difficult to incorporate, they kept flying around the kitchen but got them in in the end. It's then proved for an hour and then formed into two loaves. These loaves are then proved again until they double in size.
And for the first time since I started making bread they did double in size, they looked marvelous, proper loaves. Just before I put them in the over I had to make slits in the loaves to give them a nice pattern once they are baked. However, my knife wasn't sharp enough and so all the air just went out of my lovely risen loaves! Thankfully I had ordered a blade from Bakery Bits (and a proving basket and dough scraper) so next time this won't happen, hopefully. I also bought a baking stone from Tesco, a piece of granite that now lives in the oven. So, I think I have all the right tools for the job and therefore no more excuses, perfect bread from here on out (!).
PS, the bread tasted good despite the lack of rising!

I'm a Convert to Fresh Yeast

Having my airtight container of fresh yeast in the fridge was all too much for me yesterday and I decided to give it a go. I checked out my bread making book and lemon rolls struck me as a tasty treat and I had a lemon in the fridge, serendipidy! Making a full amount of dough was too much so I decided to make half the quantity (it did mean that I had to halve my already weighed parcel of yeast!).
So 250g of white flour, 5g fresh yeast, 5g salt and 175g water was all I needed for my dough and then the zest of a lemon that is added at the end of the kneading.
Using fresh yeast meant I had to rub the yeast into the flour, as if you were making a crumble mix, before adding the salt and water.
And almost immediatley as I started to knead the dough it felt different from the dried yeast dough. It was lighter, more pliable and it worked so easily. It felt....silken, yes that's the word for it, silken. Towards the end of the kneading I added the zest and worked it into the dough so it was evenly distributed, formed it into a ball and popped it into a floured bowl to prove for an hour. The dough rose better too. I then knocked it back and divided into four balls and formed them into rolls before leaving them to prove for another hour until they had doubled in size.
Then it was into the oven for 9 minutes until they were golden brown. They rose beautifully and the smell in the house was more bread-like than usual. All that was left to do was to butter and top them with smoked salmon and eat. They were so much lighter and airier than my previous breads, the texture was springy and holey, almost like "normal" bread! And so fresh yeast is the way forward.
Now that I'm making progress with the bread making I want to get some more of the bread making paraphenalia (proving basket, bread scraper, blade etc) and have found a great website where I can get it all called Bakery Bits. Roll on payday!

The Search for Fresh Yeast

Now that my bread making year is well under way and I have mastered the basics I decided last week that I would move on to fresh yeast. And so the question begs, where do you purchase such a thing? As I work close to Whole Foods on High Street Ken I tried there first and it was a yes. However this was on Friday when it rained all day and a 20 minute walk through the park wasn't on. Next up was Waistrose in Westfield, a sure thing you would think? But alas no. I left it at that on Friday and chose my bread of the week resigning myself to the use of dried yeast again.
My bread this week was a Raisin, Hazelnut and Shallot loaf. Although it became Sultana, Hazelnut and Onion once I had looked in the cupboard!
This was a wholemeal bread, made with 300g wholemeal flour and 200g white flour combined with 10g yeast, 10g salt and 350g water. The onion, hazelnuts and sultanas are cooked first, cooled and then added to the dough at the end of the kneading. It was a bit messy as the hazelnuts and sultanas kept escaping but I managed to tame them! It then rested for 45 minutes. Then it had to be removed from its bowl and knocked back and returned to its bowl for another 45 minutes.
In the meantime we went shopping, as you do on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning. After filling up the trolley with the necessities (and some extras!) I thought I would ask at the bakery if they stocked fresh yeast. And low and behold they did, how much did I want? I got a bit flustered and asked for 200g (this cost the princely sum of 51p) and only realised after I had it in my sticky paws that I only use 10g each time I make bread!! But I had it, thanks to Sainsbury's in Denmark Hill.
Once we got home the dough was nicely risen. I shaped it into two loaves and left it to double in size (about an hour) before baking it for 20 minutes. While they were baking my brother rang and so I had to keep a close eye on them but he was very accommadating when I had to put him on hold while I removed them! (Said I would mention you, Alan!). We polished off a loaf for lunch (it was only wee) with some smoked salmon and creme fraiche, damned fine.
I was then left with my 200g of fresh yeast and what to do with it. After some searching today I discovered that it keeps well in the fridge for months or you can freeze it. This evening I have spent a good 20 minutes dividing it up into 10g pieces, wrapping them in clingfilm and putting them in an air-tight container! I decided to keep it in the fridge and we shall see. So next weeks bread will be made with fresh yeast, very excited (I don't get out much) and we shall see the difference it makes.

Miniature Food, The Way Forward?

Looking back at my cooking and baking over the last few weeks I have noticed a trend, a trend toward mini food. It started off with my mini toad-in-the-holes a couple of weeks ago. I had made the real deal recently and then thought that mini ones would be fun. I made them in a muffin tray with a halved sausage in each one. And great they were, even had some for lunch later in the week.
I continued the trend with the mini Baked Alaska's, as seen earlier this week and I was on a roll. On Sunday, in my sickened state, I was restless and after flicking through Rachel's Bake I decided to make scones. Scones are easy, not many ingredients needed and they are scrummy straight from the oven.
I was going to make half the quantity (6) and went searching for my cookie cutter. But in the move I had ditched my large one and only had, you guessed it, a mini one! So, in a way I was forced into mini food this time.
I had one more stumbling block, no cream of tartar. After an extensive interwebulator search I discovered that there is no good substitute for cream of tartar! But in extremis you can just replace it with baking powder. I felt that the situation was extremis enough so that's what I did. I have now put it on my shopping list as they didn't rise a much as they usually do and no good kitchen is equipped without it.
I think the best thing about mini food is that you can eat more! They're only small, so three is ok, isn't it? They are also very cute, they really are And, of course, you can always pretend to be a giant!

As Promised....

Mini Baked Alaska's! I said that I might try to make them and on Saturday night that was all I had the energy to do (I'm afraid dinner was yoghurt with cereal). I had the recipe from my previous attempt to make the normal size version, so I just did some downsizing.
Rather than using an ovenproof plate (as per instructions) I used a couple of ramekins, not traditional I know but... I broke up the chocolate sponge that I had left over and squeezed it into the base of the ramekins and then pored some Calvados over it (some extra flavour!) and left them for 15 minutes or so to soak in. As these were mini I used 1 egg white and about 45g of caster sugar to make the meringue (You don't need me to go into the details on that do you? You know all about the whisking of the egg white until you get stiff peaks and then the adding of the caster sugar in stages, whisking all the time? Yes? So no need then..).
Once the meringue was ready I put a spoon of ice cream on top of the sponge and then spread the meringue all over, making a nice swirly pattern on top.
Then it's just a matter of popping it in the pre-heated oven (200C) for about 4 minutes until the meringue is lightly browned. Oh and then there's the best part, the eating. I now need to make the normal size one, this just peaked my interest!

Baking Night

I had a baking night week before last and was all set to write about it during the week when I was struck down with the lurgy (cold, cough etc) and only today started to feel a bit more human (thought I was on the mend yesterday but then went out this morning and had a relapse).
As you can see from my brief post earlier this week one of the baked goods I made was shortbread (guest blogged on My Kitchen Table) but I also made Cherry and Almond slices and a chocolate sponge for a Baked Alaska (more on the latter later).
The cherry slices are from the Mary Berry book I've been using in the last couple of weeks (the same one used for the shortbread) and they are baked in a tray and then sliced into squares.
Ingredients:
225g glace cherries
275g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
225g butter, softened
225g caster sugar
zest 2 lemons
75g ground almonds
5 large eggs
25g flaked almonds
The most time-consuming part of this recipe is preparing the cherries. Not sure why but they need to be quartered, rinsed and then dried. Never heard this done with glace cherries before but if Mary says to do it then who am I to question? Once these are ready put all the ingredients (except the flaked almonds) into a bowl and beat together until they are mixed thoroughly then fold in the cherries. Pour into your prepared tin (12x9inch tray, greased and lined with greaseproof paper) and scatter the flaked almonds on top. Cook in a preheated oven (180 fan) for 40 minutes. Mine was ready after 35 minutes, all raised and brown and spongy to touch. Then leave it to cool in the tray before slicing into squares and storing for eating later. This makes a lot of slices and we are still eating them (a bit stale at this stage but they have lasted for over a week).
I then made the sponge for the Baked Alaska, but I still haven't made the Baked Alaska! It was for my visitors last weekend but after a dinner of mini toad in the holes (cute and yum) no-one had any room left so the sponge has been eaten on its own over the week (even BYO at Starbucks!). There is still some left so I'm thinking about making a couple of mini Alaska's tonight, I will let you know the outcome.
That was just three things baked in one evening but it took most of the evening, time consuming but well worth it. I remember my mother doing her baking on a Saturday afternoon when I was growing up and it took most of the day but we always ended up with apple tarts, fairy cakes and some other cake to keep us going during the week.

Guest Blogging

Just a quick one to send you the link to the My Kitchen Table website where you will find my shortbread making experience! Fame at last!!

Knitting Too

I'm in the midst of two knitting projects at the moment. One is a project just for the heck of it and the other is a commission.
I started the first one earlier in the year. I've had the pattern for a while, bought at a vintage fair. It's a Paton's "Duet in 2-ply" number 599. I'm doing the one in the top left hand corner, the lacy cap sleeve number. I found the wool on ebay, it's an Italian brand called Adriafil Avantgarde in a lovely deep rose colour. A bargain as I only needed 3 50g balls at £2.75 each! It really is worth shopping around for your wool, there are loads of online wool shops out there with lots of different brands. I do love John Lewis on Oxford Street and, of course, Liberty but they do have a limited number of brands available (especially Liberty). The wool has a lovely feel to it too which is very important in a knitted top.
The pattern is a fairly basic lace pattern but it also has a ruched thing going on, not sure which bit of the pattern makes it ruch I just do what the nice pattern tells me.
But this is on hold at the moment as I have a commission from some friends for two cushions. Well, it started as a Christmas present of a cushion cover for their new house. But then we went to John Lewis and there were so many lovely wools there they couldn't decide so I'm doing two! In different colours. I've started the green one first, in fact it's a sage really. Lovely wool and easy to knit with, it's a Rowan Cocoon. I've just done a search for it so I can show you the lovely colour but when I put in the colour code I get either a terracotta or a grey!! I wouldn't describe the wool I'm knitting with by either of those colours, it's definitely green.
I found the pattern on Ravelry, a sort of facebook for the knitter. You have to join but it's worth it for the patterns. The cushion cover is a simple pattern, stocking stitch with colums of purl breaking it up and fastened with buttons on the front. It's knitted as one piece and then fitted around your cushion, simples (as a certain Meerkat would say, sorry, sorry, couldn't help myself!).
So progress pictures above, it's definitely green isn't it?

Cheese and Cumin Bread

All settled in now and back on track with my bread challenge and today I decided on a flavoured bread, cheese and cumin bread. When I was out yesterday I picked up the cheese. I was supposed to be Gruyere but they only had sliced so I went for emmental which will do the job.
Apart from the white dough (made with 500g strong white flour, 10g yeast, 10g salt and 350mls water) rested for and hour you also need 250g cheese of choice and half a tsp each of cumin seeds and ground cumin. After kneading the dough (down to seven minutes today) and resting for the hour flatten the dough. Then sprinkle the cumin and cheese over it and press it in so that it is worked into the dough. Fold over a third of the dough then the other thirds and make into a ball and leave for another 30 minutes. The recipe was for three loaves but I decided to go for two slightly bigger loaves. After the 30 minutes is up you then divide in two and form into a loaf. I had the tins ready, greased and my lovely loaf liners popped in. Once you have formed them into loaves to pop them in the prepared tins and leave to double in size (about and hour, depending on how warm the kithcen is).
As I was making two loaves I decided to freeze one. I cooked that one for half the time, let it cool completely and then wrapped it in greaseproof paper and a plastic bag. This will be cooked through next weekend when we have visitors coming.
The other loaf was cooked for 20 minutes and eaten in about 10! Lovely warm cheesey bread with a of hint of cumin, works well with smoked salmon. And no oven problems today! The picture shows my effort in front of how it should look, I'll leave you to judge!

What Happens When You Start Using a New Oven?

Well, I can tell you....cake disaster, that's what happens. As you know I have recently moved house and with the new house comes a new oven. Although, I have used this oven before and baked in it many times so it's not exactly new. So what went wrong on Wednesday night? I think it has something to do with the Fan Assistedness of the oven.
Up until now I have pretty much put the oven at the temperature that is required by the recipe, even though it is a fan assisted oven. I know that sounds mad. I should, of course, be reducing it by 20 degrees. But up until now I haven't had any problems. However, the honeymoon period is over, the oven is fighting back.
After my success with Mary Berry's Vanilla and Chocolate Marble cake a few weeks ago I received a free book from the publisher Mary Berry 100 Cakes and Bakes and have new cookbook will bake. I was visiting a friend the next day and promised cake and chose the apple and cinnamon cake which caught my eye as I flicked through.

Ingredients:
225g butter, softened
225g self raising flour
225g light muscavado sugar
3 large eggs
400g cooking apples, peeled, cored and grated
100g walnuts, chopped
100g sultanas
1tsp cinnamon
2tsp baking powder
extra sugar and walnuts for the top

It's very easy this one, pretty much just put all the ingredients except the apples and the cinnamon in a large bowl and beat until well combined. Then put half the mixture in your already prepared tin (greased and lined at the bottom), spread the grated apple and cinnamon on top and then spread the second half of the cake mixture over that and smooth. Sprinkle the extra sugar and walnuts on top and bake.
And here we come to the problem. Mary says a 180 oven or 160 for fan assisted for 1 and a quarter hours or 1 and a half hours. I decided to split the difference and put it at 170. After 50 minutes it had risen well and was starting to look cooked on top, I checked it by pressing the middle and it was still a bit squidgy (technical term) so I thought, give it another five minutes. Despite the fact that this was at least twenty minutes shorter than the time given. After the extra five minutes the top was starting to look a bit burned so I took it out and left it to cool in the tin. I had used a springform tin to I removed the spring bit and left it to cool a bit more before removing the bottom. It was the removal of the bottom that highlighted the problem, I took it off and the cake just collapsed in on itself and it was clear it wasn't cooked in the middle.
I managed to get it in a cake tin but it didn't get to my friend (thank you Maison Blanc for stepping into the breach), it wasn't for for purpose!
So, I think I now have to treat my oven as the fan assisted oven that it is and follow the instructions given by people with a lot more experience of these things than me. Having said that I've just had a piece and its mmmmmmmmm!

Date and Oat Loaves

And I'm back with the bread making. Only just over a week since my last loaf. Truth be told I'm avoiding unpacking and what better way to do it that making a Date and Oat loaf (or two)?
I've been using the same bread book for all my bread making this year and it is Dough by Richard Bertinet. It's a great book, lots of great recipes and he explains all the techniques very well and very clearly. He doesn't use the traditional kneading with the heel of the hand. His is a more satisfying technique, one you can use to take out all your frustration on! It's a getting your fingers under the dough-lifting it up-smacking it down on the surface technique and today I kneaded the dough in about 10 minutes rather than the 15 of previous weeks. Richard Bertinet says that with this technique you can knead it in 5 minutes, so I'm going in the right direction.
Today I decided to try a brown dough loaf and opted for the Apricot and Oat loaf. Now as I didn't have any dried Apricots (I know, you are probably wondering about the state of my pantry!) but did have dates, voila, date and oat loaf. I figure any dried fruit is a good as another.
With this bread you do the kneading as above and once you get it to the right consistency you then add the dates and knead and fold until they are incorporated. Then it's rested for the usual hour until doubled in size. You then divide it into two balls and leave for 10 minutes and then shape these into loaves. Brush with some water and then role the loaves on the oats and leave to prove for another hour. Then bake for 25 minutes.
Just eaten three slices of this with mackerel and pickle, great. Crusty on the outside and gooey and sweet on the inside. And there's a whole other loaf left.

Toad and Moet!

As mentioned in my last post, I moved house this weekend. I know that people say that moving is up there with some of the most stressful things you will do in your life but it's not until you have to do it that you realise how true that is. Especially when it is ten years since I last moved! You forget the pain. But it all went fairly smoothly and I am now ensconced in my new home.
(I know that this blog is about cakes but if I take a leaf out of Lorraine Pascal's book (and I think I can) then baking is anything that you bake in the oven, so read on)
On our fist evening together my other half made noises about fancying Toad in the Hole for dinner. Now I'm sure you are thinking that he should be cooking for me on our first night but believe me it's better this way! I had been out to lunch last week and have the self same toad and was thinking that I should try to make it. Serendipity.
One of the cookbooks I have inherited in my new house is a book called Sausage and Mash and as you will gather from the title it is a whole book on sausage and mash, who knew? And in amongst the various sausages and mashes there is a recipe for a traditional Toad in the Hole.
Ingredients are just flour (110g), half tsp salt, 2 eggs, 175ml semi-skimmed milk mixed with 125mls water (I used skimmed instead), 8 pork sausages and oil. We only had beef sausages so I'm hoping the Toad purists will forgive me.
You make the batter by mixing the flour, salt, eggs and milk (whisking is easiest) and put it in the fridge to rest for 30 mins. Then heat the oven to 225 and put your toad pan in with 3tbsp of oil (the recipe calls for rapeseed but I used groundnut, needs must) and heat it until it is smoking which takes about 10 minutes. Meanwhile you brown the sausages. Once the oil is ready pour the batter in (it should start sizzling immediately) and then drop the sausages in. It says to bake for 35-40 minutes but mine was ready after 25. It had risen around the edges but not in the middle, not sure if my sausage placement was correct. But once we were eating it with the onion gravy and Moet I didn't really care.

Roll Loaf

Week two in the 2011 bread making challenge and another loaf successfully made (and eaten!). I decided to use the basic white dough this morning and make a connected roll loaf. Does that make any sense? I'm having difficulty describing it.
I used a round tin, divided the dough into 12 small rolls and arranged the rolls in the round tin so that when they were cooked they were connected but easily torn into their original roll form. When I post the picture hopefully you'll know what I'm talking about.
Today I felt that I had nailed the kneading, I could really feel the dough coming together and becoming all smooth and bouncy. I think it took me about 15 minutes of kneading. I also added some extra water to the dough and I think that helped too.
I took a leaf out of Lorraine Pascale's book (or rather her TV show) and put the dough to prove in front of the warm oven and it worked. The dough doubled in size and when I knocked it back and folded it into the rolls it felt lovely and soft.
I baked it for about 18 minutes, it rose well and when I broke it up it wasn't as dense as my previous attempts, lots of nice holes and air. It went down very well with some butter and homemade blackcurrant jam. It doesn't last very long this home made bread does it?
Next week I am moving house so I don't think there will be bread making time but fear not I will be back after that to continue the 2011 BC (bread challenge of course, keep up).

Vanilla and Chocolate Marble Cake

To all intents and purpose this is a Chocolate Swirl Cake (see Chocolate Squirrel Cake post of last year). Sounds a bit posher maybe but a Chocolate Swirl cake it is.
My friend sent me a link to a new website last week, My Kitchen Table, that has some great chefs on there showcasing new recipes. Having had a little surf and feeling very baking deprived after my January of non-baking I decided to make a cake and chose Mary Berry's above mentioned Marble Cake.
As you will see from the recipe it is an all in one cake, all the ingredients go in together and you mix with an electric whisk until all combined. Then it's a matter of halving the mixture and adding you chocolate (in the guise of cocoa powder) to one half. Then you have the fun of putting them into the loaf tin in a higgledy piggledy sort of way (technical term) and that way you get your marbling.
I followed the oven instructions and took off the 20 degrees for a fan oven but after 40 minutes it was still rather soggy so for the last ten minutes I put it up to 160 and it was perfect. Nicely risen and springy to the touch.
The icing was my favourite bit, a whole new way of making icing. You melt the butter and then add the cocoa powder (over the heat) and stir until smooth. Add the icing sugar with a couple of tablespoons of milk and stir until it's all incorporated then take off the heat and mix until smooth. You get a beautiful glossy icing and it hardened very quickly. I then added it to the loaf and voila. I didn't have any white chocolate so the final flourish didn't happen but I think that's ok.
I brought the cake into work last Monday and we had it in the afternoon as everyone was flagging. It got good reviews and lots of nostalgic comments about their mothers making it when they were growing up. I love that about cakes, they never go out of fashion.

New Year New Colour

Yes, I've been at it again, I've changed the look of the blog. I can't settle on one look for long, can I? Oh well. I felt the previous all white look was a bit stark and shouty so I've gone for a more muted colour palette this time and I like the new layout too. I will try not to play around again (although you've heard that before!)
Also a picture of the finished Focaccia below, it was damned fine.

Bread Making

I've decided that 2011 will be the year that I bake bread. Not for all my needs, because there is still a place for thick sliced white bread in my life. It's a skill that, up until now, has eluded me. Although I haven't made that many attempts so eluded may be the wrong word.
At the end of last year myself and a friend were shopping for dinner and we decided that homemade bread would be a good accompaniment. I remembered that there was some yeast in the cupboard (from a previous bread making moment) and, of course, there was flour. I said I would make it as my friend had work to do.
I used a recipe from my Mary Berry cookbook, a plain white loaf and set about making it. Mixing, kneading, proving etc. Once out of the oven it looked OK, smelt great so just the tasting to go.
I then sliced into it, it was so dense it was almost like the dough hadn't cooked at all! But it tasted good, it was warm from the oven and with butter melting into it it just about passed muster. I then looked at the expiry date on the yeast, it had expired in 2007! So I'm determined that I won't let my latest batch of yeast go out of date.
I'm using dried yeast at the moment, I want to master it first before I start buying fresh yeast. Not sure whether I will go down the starter route as yet, but we shall see.
Since then I have made one more loaf and it was heaps better than my first attempt and as we speak there is a Focaccia dough proving in the kitchen. The worst thing about my bread 2011 challenge is that I'm eating a low carb diet at the moment. But I guess some homemade bread once a week won't make that much difference,will it?

Lacy Snood

So, officially, Happy New Year! And it is a year since I started this project of regaling you with my exploits in baking and knitting. I've enjoyed it and I hope some of you have too.
As it's the New Year I am on a healthy eating kick at the moment in an effort to counteract the excesses of the Christmas period, of which there were many as you can imagine. So I haven't baked a thing this year yet, it feels a bit wrong but it's also good. It means I am concentrating on the knitting. Maybe I could combine the two, knitted cake anyone? NO, knitted food is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. It just feels weird, anytime I see knitted cupcakes I feel a bit...well, sick. Over reaction? I don't think so. So both hobbies will be kept apart except on this blog.
I started a lacy pattern scarf back in September with no real idea of who it was for (although that's most of my projects) and I finished it last week. And it became clear who it was for in the final weeks, a friend's birthday was looming and I thought she would like it. I finished it last week. But rather than leaving it as a scarf I sewed the ends together and got a snood! Very easy and very effective. I got the pattern for it from Knitty.com. It was one of those patterns that took me forever to work out and then once I got it it was easy. There were some "mistakes" along the way but the pattern meant that these aren't really visible (that's my story anyway).
Although it looks like it took me four months to knit it I did do other projects in between. There was the fingerless gloves, the baby wrap-over dress, the baby hat, the baby booties X 2 and the moss stitch scarf. I was being very productive on the quiet.
And now the best part, I can start a new project! Well I started it last weekend and it's already coming along and looking good. It's another lace pattern, I seem to be drawn to them at the moment. More on this project in the coming weeks. Happy baking and knitting and whatever craft you are into at the moment.