Bakewell Tart

Joe has created a veritable masterpiece at school today and frankly he must take after his mother (grandmother/great grandmother) as nothing he cooks seems to go wrong.  In his words he told me that it was 'a series of successful flukes'.  I think not dear boy.  Thing is they don't actually taste his goods and the teacher gave him 8.5 out of 10, now, I am biased I know, but in my book it would've been 11 out of 10.  The pastry was better than my own (not difficult), no actually better than my mother's (hard to beat) and the actually filling bit was just delicious.  Sadly the big gap in the tart has been eaten by myself and Fran, more by me I think.  I am SUCH a sucker for something sweet and this was just DELICIOUS! Well done Joe, you've definitely got more than one of my genes...

Dr Seuss

I wasn't sure what to do for Betsy's Birthday Cake.  She is however a little obsessed with Dr. Seuss so I thought I would do her a book, Dr Seuss, Cat in the Hat and it seemed to go down pretty well!

Happy Birthday to you

A little number I created this morning for Fran - who is 8 today! Where has the time gone?

Shiver Pie

Inspired by Mum and creating a sort of version of something that she herself created, I made Shiver Pie. Poppy loves blackcurrants but they always make her shiver - hence the name of my latest creation! I had some cream, a bit of greek yogurt and some frozen blackcurrants. I cooked 'em up, thickened 'em, made a pastry base and sort of threw it together. Voila - Shiver Pie for pudding and you know what they say, 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating', no doubt we'll all be shivering together, brrrrrr!

Pretzel Mania

OH MY GOD, I have just stuffed myself with Pretzel! We are lucky enough to have one of just 10 Auntie Anne's Pretzel places in Derby and we all love a pretzel. I've made them before but not successfully and when I am home I love to bake! So, today, I thought I would give the pretzel making another go.....

In this pic, I've prep'd up and had my soda solution in the bowl all ready to dip

the pretzles, chorizo chopped for the savoury ones...ready to roll (and twist!)

Once I had divided the dough into 10 pieces I rolled them out - not as easy as it looks to get them an even size all the way along but these were more or less ok!!

When I had twisted them, dipped them in soda, put them on the lined and well greased tray they went in a hot oven for about 8 - 9 mins and then the fun bit, melt the butter and dunk the cooked pretzels and then give them some serious sugar treatment and voila - the finished article. I made some savoury ones too from chorizo and cheese - they were yummy too!

Another successful baking challenge accomplished - something else I can tick of my list of baked goods! Thing is, they all get eaten so quickly!

Paul Hollywood eat your heart out!!

Watching the Great British Bake-off has really got me going. How I missed out on that one I'll never know. I frequently check the 'be on a show' pages for all of the main tv channels in the hope that one day I will make it onto some sort of cookery type prog only to discover that I have missed out. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

So, after watching last night's instalment of the above

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tndz9, I decided I could do FAR better than any of them and set to work making Paul Hollywood's crusty cob loaf. What a doddle! Picture 1 is the loaf going into the oven, 30 mins later and here it is all cooked and ready to sample.

Never mind though, I'll get there - one day!

Chocolate Buns to Die for

I was in a baking mood on Friday and decided after making the daily bread that I would investigate the sweet pages of Dough (Richard Bertinet) to see if there was anything I fancied and lo and behold I found Jack's Buns, a variation on a pain aux raisin but with chocolate. Mmmmmmmm. I'd made them a few years ago and remembered they were delicious so thought I would make them again. The only rub is that as they are filled with creme patissiere which for 500g's of dough (24 buns) is 6 egg yolks! Quite a few for a few buns so I decided to halve the recipe and make just 12 buns thus using 3 egg yolks in the creme patissiere.

My timings were a bit iffy as I was in and out on Friday but the resulting buns were a triumph, devoured by the children (and me). YUM YUM YUM. Think I'll make another batch right now, problem is, with all the egg whites I'm overrun with meringues!

Plum-licious

Its been a while....

But, I am back with more yummy enjoyments. I was lucky enough to get home and visit family recently. Whilst there, I had the good fortune to be at my Aunt and Uncle's when my Uncle arrived with a huge bucket of ripe golden plums. I was happy to relieve them of their heavy burden and drive them the 250 miles home the following day for a Plum-fest! So, I set to work and on day one I made 3 jars of spicy plum chutney, I took Mrs Beeton's advice and put some of the other plums in a large pan with sugar ready for day two and the jam making! I also had just enough to create a mouthwatering delicacy by the name of Sticky Plum flapjack (thanks to Nic for the recipe link) http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/12810/sticky-plum-flapjack-bars which was an instantaneous Plum-delight.

The Jam, I created at 7am today, lots to do and too little time to do it. The picture, I think you'll agree, is as plum-licious as it gets! Thanks Uncle Pete xx

BAGELS!!!

And finally...

I had a moment of madness yesterday and decided to have a go at making Bagels again. I've made them several times before but ALWAYS fail when, after boiling them, I place the wet dough onto the baking paper - they always stick and end up a bit of a disaster... NOT this time!

I made them following the recipe to the book (not my usual method, I'm a bit slap-dash) and ended up with a nice firm dough. Once I boiled them I put them on some very well greased baking PARCHMENT paper, this is a different creature to greaseproof paper and its superior texture meant that the bagels did not stick, success!

I also made some multi-seeded bagels as well as the plain ones. Suffice to say they are nearly all gone as once we'd all eaten one for breakfast, there is probably just enough for tomorrow.

Sadly, I have created an impossible situation. I don't buy bread, I make it. The only thing I buy is Bagels, this is all change as the children have declared Mum's by far the best thing ever and are now keen for me to make those also. It'll keep me busy I guess, as if I don't have enough bread to make in a week, I've just given myself a bit more. Oh well, I love making bread and I know that all they have in them is flour, water, yeast, and honey. Not an E number in site!

p.s. the roll on the right was a Bagel until B leant on it and squashed it flat, it was re-born and duly eaten for tea!

Sourdough

This week I have been mostly concentrating on making Sourdough. I actually began with the whole effort of making Sourdough a week ago. It has been a long drawn out process as it takes 36 hours for the ferment to begin as no yeast is added, the flour and water are mixed together and the natural yeasts in the air cause the fermentation. The dough has to be fed with more water and flour on day 3, which you can see below:

Once the mixture has been fed, the dough has to be split into some for the loaves and some kept back, which I used to make dried sourdough granules with - it can be re-activated at a later date!

Tomorrow, the sourdough will come out of the fridge (its only been in the fridge 2 days, the rest of the time it must be kept over 25 degrees to aid fermentation) and it will have more flour added to make the bread.

I will post more pictures when I have the finished product!

Lacy Creation

Finally I finished the little lacy number for my sisters friend and it turned out pretty well to be honest as I did it in a tearing hurry! The buttons really finished it off, they were little flowers and were perfect for the delicate little 12inch number. It has already gone off to the recipient, who is apparently very pleased with it, well her Mum is at least!

Bumble Bee

The Ugly Bug Ball was last week's theme for dress-up day, sporting a homemade creation the smallest went off to school looking very happy in her Bumble Bee outfit. Thankfully it wasn't too hot as she would have boiled!

Successful Fruit Loaf

I also had great success with the fruit loaves too, the overnight prove worked really well, as with the ferment I got the dough out of the fridge and let it warm up for a couple of hours before I incorporated the fruit and then I made 2 large loaves and a smaller one. Although the recipe uses egg I only used milk because of the children's egg allergy, despite this the loaves look (and taste!) delicious. I didn't quite have them made in time for coffee but in time for afternoon tea, definitely!

My New Favourite thing...

is Pain Brie! I had the most fun making it today. I got the ferment out of the fridge first thing to give it a chance to warm up, it was frothy and looked ready for stage two! After a couple of hours when I knew it was up to room temperature, I added the other ingredients and did find myself with a pretty stiff dough, very much like you would get if you made a loaf the English way and kept adding flour throughout kneading. Once I had kneaded it well so that all of the flour was incorporated, I began bashing the life out of it with a rolling pin!

Obviously videoing myself and using one hand to hit it with wasn't easy!

Anyway, it all went well and after it proved for an hour and a half, I shaped the loaves, left them for a further hour, slashed the tops and ended up with 3 perfectly formed Pain Brie.

This week's bread fest

I have decided to give the fruited loaf a go this week but I have cheated a little by making the dough tonight and putting only half the yeast in it so that the prove time is doubled. I am also going to prove it in the fridge overnight too which helps slow the prove time which means tomorrow I can get it baked by mid morning, just in time to enjoy it with a nice cup of coffee!

I also have a 900g ferment going for a big batch of Pain Brie, supposedly a light bread but made as a very stiff dough that needs to be pummelled with a rolling pin as kneading it is pretty difficult. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Little Knitting

On a positive note I did manage to finish the little cardi for my sisters friend and it looks ok. The picture is taken with my i-pod so you can see how tiny it is, I have to admit, knitting something so small was actually quite hard - soooo fiddly. I am still trying to finish the other lacy number and I hope that I will get that done in a couple of days.

Back to Normal...

So, the children are back at school after the Easter Holidays and life returns to the normal hum-drum.... Perhaps I may now get the chance to make the fruit loaf I never made last week? I also have to make a fruit cake for a raffle and I have the usual monotonous things to be getting on with, best I stop blogging and get to it!

Pictures of the bread-fest!

Pic 3


Pic 2

Pic 4

Baked Goods

Back to the baking challenge...

This week I was keen to try the Somerset Cider loaf and the Tea Loaf but still need what I refer to as the daily bread, basically, something the children will eat! So I began by making a basic white loaf. I'm getting better at achieving a good crust by placing a shallow tray of water in the bottom of the oven and then just before they go in, slashing the top with a super sharp blade. (picture 1)

Then onto the real challenge, the Somerset Cider Loaves. I began at 1pm yesterday and started by making the ferment which takes four to six hours, it looked a bit gooey by the time it was ready for stage 2, making the dough. (picture 2)

It was to prove twice each for 45 mins and this seemed to take forever, then I had to shape them and leave them to prove for 1.5hrs which turned into 2 as I forgot all about them! The results were four pretty brilliant looking loaves and the flavour is great, really earthy. Problem is with four huge loaves, what to do? As there is nothing like fresh bread, the girls took a loaf next door to the neighbours - who are always happy to help us out with baked goods, we're eating one and the other two are in the freezer. I think the Fruit loaf may have to wait a day or two! (Picture 3 and 4)

Other projects

Well, aside from creating a host of baked goods yesterday, I was pestered by my smallest daughter for me to make her some home-made clothes. I have saved over 10 shirts that my husband no longer wants - most are in good condition apart from the collars and cuffs which get the most wear. So, I've been thinking long and hard about what I can upcycle them into...... Well my first little project was a nightshirt and its turned out quite well! Here is a picture of my 5 year old proudly modelling it to wear to bed last night!

Of course I have started something now as my eldest daughter doesn't want to miss out and is keen for me to make her something too! If only there were enough hours in the day.....

This coming Week's challenge

This week I am at home with just two of the four children, that is going to be weird but they've got me on a tight schedule - swimming, shopping, opticians, more shopping, friends over......

Will I get the time for this week's baking challenge? I want to make a loaf from Jamie Oliver's book - a courgette and goats cheese number plus the Cider bread I didn't manage last week and a fruited tea loaf both from Richard Bertinet http://www.thebertinetkitchen.com/.

I also need to sew-up the now completed 10 inch cardi I have made (see last post) I will put a picture on when its complete!

Tiny Babies and Cricket Sweaters

I found out a couple of days ago that my sister's friend had a tiny baby, only 4lb 13oz so I have now put down my cricket sweater knitting and started on a 10" baby cardigan, it is SOOOOOO small. I managed the back in an hour and the left front in about the same. It is probably the smallest thing I have ever knitted apart from dolls clothes and I am hoping to finish it asap as I want to get it sent off. I have a lacy number to knit too so never a dull moment!

The Half finished bootees!

Busy Busy Busy

Today I have been pretty busy having a big bake! I have re-made the pain de mie because everyone loved it first time round and it all got eaten pretty quick, I've also made some Spelt Scones for a competition that shipton mill are running at the moment, I've taken a picture here and you can find the recipe I posted at http://www.shipton-mill.com/the-bakery/recipes under 'Light Spelt Scones'.

Just for a bit of a change I've been busy crocheting a pair of bootees for my cousin, they're only half finished but looking good. Hopefully I will get them posted off soon but I seem to be fast running out of time.

Oh and I am making a seeded bread today too using a ferment which takes 6 hours to do so I think I could be up 'til late getting it all done!

Success

The Pain De Mie was a success and I will definitely make it again, will try to add a photo soon!

Ta Da! Here it is!

Baking Bread

I am making a Pain De Mie right now and it actually smells as if it is burning! I hope that is not the case. Its one I've not made before so I am going to see how it turns out. I make all of my bread from one of two BRILLIANT books called Dough or Crust, both by Richard Bertinet.