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!