16 5 / 2013
Corn Tortillas
At the back of the cupboard I found some Masa Harina, Mexican maize flour, no doubt bought on impulse, but just what was needed for Paul Hollywood’s Corn Tortillas (Bread page 111)
I followed his recipe rather than the one on the packet, but got my measurements wrong so these are a bit smaller than they should be. His dough needed chilling for 30 minutes, which made them crack quite badly when i tried to roll them out. In the end I had to shape them by hand for a bit until they were pliable enough to roll out. But they tasted lovely served with some crayfish tails and guacamole.
16 5 / 2013
Another batch of breadsticks and an ordinary white loaf
Jumbo breadsticks (olive and parmesan) again, I think its because I’m making double the actual recipe so end up with a much larger rectangle, I need to adjust to get the smaller ones, but actually these are lovely.
Got a bit arty with the white loaf, i dont know why I make round loaves as you get such big slices when you get near the middle!
Bertinet, Dough page 50
16 5 / 2013
Basil and Corinader Sourdough Bread
Paul Hollywood’s Bread page 17. It was quite fiddly to knead in the herbs and the dough looked very green when proving but its lovely.
10 5 / 2013
Blueberry Muffins
I haven’t really done these lovely muffins justice in this photo - I’ve used greaseproof and baking parchment instead of muffin cases and I’ve not added the crumble topping, all of which leaves the lovely muffins not looking as good as they taste. They are lovely and lemony in flavour then you get a burst of blueberry (or raspberry, which I think is my favourite). and have a light texture rather than being dense as some can be.
Ottolenghi the Cookbook page 211
10 5 / 2013
Mackerel and beetroot - in many forms
Mackerel and beetroot go really well together and I’ve been trying different ways with the locally-grown beetroot from the farm shop:
Beetroot and orange salsa in all 3 - from Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem, we had it originally with harrisa marinated fresh mackerel bbq’d (page 222) - but no photo
Top - served with Nigel Slater’s smoked mackerel and bacon salad. His looks better than mine does but it tasted nice - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mackerel_and_bacon_salad_10923
Middle - with smoked mackerel pate, not really a pate - smoked mackerel, cream cheese and caper mix.
Bottom - olive-less salsa.
Missing is a picture of Ottolenghi’s pureed beetroot with yogurt and zaatar (Jerusalem page 53) which we had with Paul Hollywood’s pittas - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pitta_bread_97296
Oh, I just roasted off 3 beetroot each one wrapped in foil until tender to use for each of the dishes, some recipes say boil but roasting seems less messy.
07 5 / 2013
Best Ever Ginger Biscuits
They are all the same colour, so don’t know what happened in the image, or where its been hiding as I made these last week.
The key to getting these biscuits all crisp and lovely seems to be to give them space on the baking sheet and cook for about 45 minutes at about 120 in the fan oven.
Tamsin Day Lewis, Weekend Food page 75
07 5 / 2013
Mary Berry’s Carrot Cake - again!
I seem to always be making this lovely easy cake for one thing or another, it always gets great comments. I seldom ice it as in the book (Baking Bible page 58) and if I do i just ice the top rather than splitting it and filling it. Today I decided to add a little ginger and used hazelnuts instead of walnuts just because I had some to use up, I’ve replaced the nuts with dark chocolate chunks before and that works. Just waiting for it to cool so I can cut it!
07 5 / 2013
Bank Holiday Treat
What’s not to love about a BBQ’d bacon and fried egg roll?
I’d left the rolls too long in the oven but still better than anything you’d buy.
Ordinary bread dough, I usually make 6 out of 500g of flour.
07 5 / 2013
There’s fruit in there somewhere!
Paul Hollywood’s lovely fruited loaf, all the fruit went in - it must be hiding in there somewhere. This is a great recipe - almost all done with the kitchen aid as the dough is really wet and it can happily sit for 3 hours on its first prove too!
How to bake page 115
21 4 / 2013
Lovely ‘ordinary’ white loaf for this morning’s bacon sandwich and some white baps for the freezer.
17 4 / 2013
Fully baked sourdough loaf
Ok big holes, but its holey and tastes lovely. Considering it stuck in the proving bowl and it was an exceptionally wet dough I’m quite pleased with the final result. Holes! Yeh!
Bertinet Crust page 54
17 4 / 2013
Part-baked sourdough loaf
Holes! Not sure, but the large ones at the top seem to happen when the bread sticks to the proving basket, but its definately holey!
Bertinet Crust page 54
17 4 / 2013
Sourdough Loaves
Part-baked and both loaves. Looking ok despite sticking to the baskets and deflating in the middle..just need to cut one and see if the elusive holey testure has been achieved. This one was proved overnight in the utility room and didn’t rise as much as the one left by the oven.
Bertinet Crust page 54 with a runny ferment
17 4 / 2013
Ale and Yeast Poolish Loaves
Bertinet Crust page 65
These are great! The poolish ferment was easy to make as was the bread. Chief taster commented why bother with sourdough when you can make bread as nice as this - its got a great taste, crumb and a lovely chewy crust.
17 4 / 2013
Sourdough Bread
Back to Bertinet’s sourdough recipe to see if I can get that really holey testure again. This dough was really sloppy, I could have accidentally put in 50g too much water as I measured it in 2 lots and I haven’t made it for months so couldn’t remember if the dough was as runny last time. There are 2 loaves, this one rose more after 12 hours - it was left in the kitchen and I’d had the oven on. Both loaves stuck to the proving baskets so deflated as they went onto the baking tray but this one seems to have popped up in the oven..but what’s it like inside?
Crust page 54, the ferment was relatively runny.
