BREADY OR NOT

BLACKOUT

2009-02-20T10:23:00.001-08:00

JOHNNY CAKES

2008-02-21T02:02:00.000-08:00

Jamaican Fried Dumplings or Johnny Cakes:

2 cups Self Raising Flour (I used plain flour and a teaspoon of baking flour)

1 cup cold Milk

1 oz. Butter

Olive Oil for frying

Mix ingredients together, except cooking oil, and knead to make dough. Make the dough pieces the same as explained above.

Heat the cooking oil in the skillet, and fry dough pieces for three minutes on each side.

It’s imperative that you keep the heat on low for these dumplings or they will be hard on the sides and soft around the edges.

I put them in the oven for a few minutes when they were cooked, just to make sure they were cooked all the way through as they were quite thick

"SUNDAY" WHITE BREAD (Bara Can)

2008-01-05T16:05:00.000-08:00

Taken from "A BOOK OF WELSH BREAD" by Bobby Freeman.

"A rich, satisfying loaf with a thin, crisp crust, baked for special occasions"

The Recipe:

1lb/450g flour (unspecified, so I used Allinson's strong white bread flour)
1 teaspoon dried yeast dissolved with a teaspoon of honey in 1/4 pint of warm water
1oz/25g butter
1 egg
2 teaspoons sea salt
7 fl oz/200ml warm milk

The Method:

Rub the butter into the flour.
To the frothed yeast, add the beaten egg, the warm milk and the salt.
Warm the flour for a few minutes in the oven.
Make a well in the centre and add the liquid.
Mix with the fingers until a soft dough is formed. (The mixture was very wet, and I was sceptical from the outset, but persisted for a good half hour. The dough had sort of formed but was still very runny and sticky, so I gave it a quick knead on a floured board and called it a day.)
Knead well until the dough is nice and shiny and attractively yellow in colour.
Shape into a large loaf, insert into an oiled.floured and warmed tin and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours until twice the original size.
Bake in a hot oven for 30 minutes, then reduce to moderate for a further fifteen minutes.
(This photo taken straight after kneading)

(This one after proving for 2 hours, just prior to going in the oven)

(and this one fresh from the oven, mmm...)

"YORKSHIRE" TEACAKES

2007-12-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

Quite why these are specific to Yorkshire I'm not sure, as the recipe looks fairly universal:

Recipe for 8 teacakes:

450g Strong White Bread Flour (I'm still using Allinson's)
1/2 teaspoon salt
50g butter
sachet fast blend yeast
50g light brown soft sugar
50g mixed peel
100g currants (I used dried mixed fruit, not being all that keen on currants)
300ml half milk/half water mix, warm

glaze:

1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon milk

(brush on the glaze as they come out of the oven, it adds a nice shine)

Method:
This recipe says rub the flour,salt and butter together, then add everything else and knead for 10 minutes, or until the dough is elastic, then divide into 8 and leave to rise beneath oiled clingfilm before baking at gas mark 6 for 20 minutes.
Although sceptical, I followed the method, but much as expected there was little growth in the 30 minutes. Next time I shall start the yeast in the water/milk mixture before I add it to the dough. I placed mine quite low in the oven and left for 30 minutes. The cakes are very tasty indeed, if a little heavy and doughy.

The recipe was found in a pamphlet entitled "Better Baking", produced by Hovis in association with British Gas, which we picked up for 20p in a local charity shop.

WHITE BREAD WITH SESAME

2007-12-11T04:39:00.000-08:00

Using the same recipe and method for WHITE FARMHOUSE TIN LOAF, I have reduced the butter content to 20g and added some toasted sesame oil, which gives off a wonderful aroma, and a spoonful of sesame seeds to the dough.

edit:
The loaf singed quite badly in the top of the oven but is savable - I don't think the sesame has added anything to the finished product.

FRUITCAKE

2007-12-05T12:54:00.001-08:00

Recipe:

50g light soft brown sugar
125g unsalted butter
100g golden syrup (plus a spoonful to pour over top)
2 large eggs
500g mixed fruit (I used Tesco Luxury Mix or somesuch thing)
200g strong white flour (I was all but out of white so substituted Spelt flour)
1 level teaspoon baking powder
2 level teaspoons mixed spice (I used allspice)
75g ground almonds
50ml milk
50ml whisky (we only had a Single Malt in the house...)

Holy Moly this is a nice cake!
Again taken from the same Guardian Supplement, quite easy to make.

Beat the butter, sugar and syrup until light and fluffy (that didn't really happen)
Whisk in the eggs, one at a time until combined.
Stir in the fruit.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, spice and ground almonds and add to the mixture along with the milk and whisky.
Place in a baking tin and cover tightly with foil, baking at 180 (Gas Mark 4) for 45 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 45 minutes.
After cooling, drill a few holes, mix together a tablespoon of syrup with a tablespoon of whisky and drizzle over the cake.

The recipe called for a 2lb loaf tin, which I don't have, so I opted for a round cake tin, lined with baking parchment. The cake did not rise much, leading me to think I should have used a smaller tin, or perhaps increased the dosage of baking powder slightly to compensate for the weight of the spelt flour.
Despite being a bit on the thin side, the texture is excellent, the taste is beautiful and the aroma is simply awesome!
We have a family tradition of eating Christmas Cake with a slice of cheese, and this cake is completely moved to another dimension when eaten with a slice of Collier's Cheddar. Next time I make one I shall follow another family tradition of studding the top of the cake with whole almonds and glazing with egg and milk.

EXPERIMENT

2007-12-02T09:41:00.000-08:00

Taking the original recipe for the WHITE FARMHOUSE TIN LOAF I've substituted the butter for Extra Virgin Olive Oil and done without the tin. I used the same weight of oil as butter, and at first this seemed like too much, but when the sponge and the dough were combined, I only had to add a little more flour to mop up the excess moisture. I separated the proven dough into two loaves as it had risen and spread much more than the original recipe. Oven temperatures and times remain the same.

edit:
through my characteristic lack of concentration, I actually used 4x the amount of olive oil than I should have, hence the oiliness of the final mix! It did, however, cook up quite nicely, though I think the mixture would be better used for rolls rather than loaves.

AN ADDED BONUS TO STEAMING THE OVEN

2007-12-01T03:50:00.000-08:00

Placing a bowl of water on the oven floor to create steam throughout the cooking process also helps in the cleaning of the oven! It softens up any baked-on residue on the floor and walls of the oven, making cleaning a doddle. I first saw Heston Blumenthal (rapidly becoming a hero) do this, just by chucking a wineglass of water directly into the oven.

CONVERSION TABLES

2007-12-01T03:43:00.001-08:00

Temperatures

Gas Mark 1 = 275F = 140C
Gas Mark 2 = 300F = 150C
Gas Mark 3 = 325F = 170C
Gas Mark 4 = 350F = 180C
Gas Mark 5 = 375F = 190C
Gas Mark 6 = 400F = 200C
Gas Mark 7 = 425F = 220C
Gas Mark 8 = 450F = 230C
Gas Mark 9 = 475F = 240C

Weights

Imp Metric
1 oz = 28.35 = 1oz
2 oz = 56.7 = 2oz
4 oz = 113.4 = 4oz
8 oz = 226.8 = 8oz
1 lb = 453.6 = 1 lb

Measures

1/2 fl oz = 15 ml
1 fl oz = 30 ml
2 fl oz = 60 ml
4 fl oz = 120 ml
1/4 pint = 150 ml
1/2 pint = 285 ml
1 pint = 570 ml

1 1/2 pints = 900 ml
1 3/4 pints = 1 lt
2 pints = 1 1/4 litres
2 1/3 pints = 1 1/2 litres
3 1/4 pints = 2 litres

PARKIN

2007-11-27T13:30:00.001-08:00

As a lad in Yorkshire we always seemed to have some parkin about the house, but you don't hear of it anywhere else. I came across a recipe a while ago, well two actually - one for Yorkshire Parkin, and another for the Cheshire version. I made the yorkshire version, but it came out far too dark and treacly for my liking (but we ate it anyway) and I've recently come across this recipe which uses both fresh and ground ginger. I made a batch a few days ago, which is now all gone, a good sign. I've been making a few curries and meals containing plenty of ginger and garlic lately to keep the kids from getting congested, so there's plenty of ginger left to use up.

Recipe:
100g Butter
250g Soft Dark Brown or Muscovado Sugar
125g golden syrup
125g treacle (not wishing to use treacle, I meant to substitute this for extra golden syrup but completely forgot to compensate when measuring...)
150ml dark ale or porter (I used Theakstons Old Peculier)
2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
150g fine oatmeal (I used normal porridge oats in the blender)
2 large eggs
250g plain flour
3 level teaspoons ground ginger (I also added nutmeg)
3 level teaspoons baking powder (I completely forgot this also, this could have something to do with it not rising...)
which just goes to show, don't start baking when you're too tired to think... this is hopelessly wrong - nice taste, but it's a dense slab of dough with the texture of a wet towel.

WHITE FARMHOUSE TIN LOAF

2007-11-27T07:06:00.000-08:00

A white tin loaf made the sourdough way, presented as "the easiest loaf in the world" by the Guardian.

I made the sponge last night:

225ml warm water
1 teaspoon (sachet) easyblend yeast
175g strong white bread flour (used Allinson's)

The mixture started off quite vigorously and smells good. It stood from last night until I got home from work this afternoon.

added the dough:

175g strong white bread flour
25g butter (the recipe said unsalted butter and a level teaspoon of salt, and I left the salt out as I used salted butter)

At this point the dough looks a bit runny and watery, certainly not something kneadable, so I'm just moving it around the bowl a bit. Possibly the scales were faulty and I have not added enough flour... (sprinkled the dough with extra flour prior to second knead). I really did not expect this to work, it hardly rose at all in the bowl, -it seemed to take ages to rise when in the tin, and when I cut the top it sank again, but it has produced a tasty bread with excellent texture. I had to add flour at each knead and for the final roll out, so I'm assuming the weights were wrong.

EDIT: I've made this loaf three times now; the third time I could only leave the sponge for a few hours rather than overnight and half the next day. As a result it was much drier, but either way, adding a little flour during the kneads doesn't seem to hurt any - we LOVE this bread, the taste and the texture are superb!

CHEWY LIGHT RYE BREAD

2007-11-26T06:20:00.000-08:00

Recipe: Saturday Guardian Supplement 24/11/2007
Ingredients:
for the sponge: (also called here "pretend sourdough")

4 Slices plain Ryvita (here I used the end of a shop-bought loaf)
275ml cold water
150g Rye Flour
Half a small onion, finely grated (I did not include this as we had no onions in when I made the sponge)
1 tablespoon live yoghurt
1 teaspoon easy-blend yeast (I used a sachet)
1 teaspoon of caraway seeds, lightly ground (I used whole seeds here, but on reflection I could have used the mortar and pestle)

I made this up last night, first soaking the lump of bread in warm water, so the sponge has stood from about 9pm till I came home from work at 1:00pm.

for the dough:

1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
2 tablespoons of treacle (used 3 desert spoons)
150g Rye Flour
250g Strong bread flour (I used Allinsons)
2 level teaspoons of salt
Beaten egg and caraway for the crust.

When all the ingredients are combined, knead lightly every ten minutes for 30 mins (I used olive oil on my work surface instead of flour). 1st photo taken after 1st knead
Leave covered in mixing bowl for 30 minutes at room temperature, then roll out into a rectangle of 30x20cms on a floured surface.
Roll this rectangle up tightly "like a scroll".
Place it seam side down on a floured baking tray, punching it gently down along the top to squeeze out air pockets.
Place the tray in a carrier bag and leave somewhere warm for a couple of hours until the dough has almost doubled in height.
Heat oven to 220C (gas mark 7) and steam the oven with a tray of water in the bottom.
Brush dough with beaten egg and sprinkle with caraway seeds, and slash down middle with sharp knife
bake for 20 mins at mark 7 then 20 mins at mark 6, until the loaf is a rich dark brown.
This one got a bit singed in the oven, so I shall place on a lower shelf and probably reduce the heat to 6 or even 5.

FIRST POST

2007-11-26T06:16:00.000-08:00

I've started breadmaking. Under the circumstances it feels like the right thing to do. I have a few recipes which seem worth experimenting with, and I need to record recipes, thoughts, comments, deviations from the recipe etc. I have made bread before, but not very often, so I'm prepared to discard all former knowledge and start right from scratch. I do not have any fancy equipment such as a breadmaker, or an expensive food mixer with a dough hook attachment, just a few mixing bowls, the co0ker, and my bare hands. I welcome new recipes, if you have any, though they must be tried and tested!