Wednesday 20 August 2014

The Great Blogger Bake Off: Week 3 - Sage and Olive Focaccia




Eeeeek bread week!!! 

I have never in my life succesfully baked bread before, so I was even more nervous this week than biscuit week. So I really did my research this time as to what was the most fool proof bread recipe, and to my surprise everyone said Foccaccia. It's so fancy and beautiful that I never thought it could be so easy, but it actually is. 

I think that focaccia in itself is such a beautiful bread that I didn't want to be over zealous with the flavourings, and stuck with a simple sage and olive, inspired by the good old Rosemary Shrager.  

If any of you out there are considering getting into bread baking, this is a definitely a brilliant beginners recipe. Given my track record ( we're talking loafs of solid rock here) if I can do it, anyone can. 



Ingredients
500g strong plain white flour
1 1/2 tsp dried yeast
2 tsp salt
4 tbsp olive oil
300ml tepid water
2 tbsp chopped black olives
1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
To Finish
3 tbsp garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Sage leaves
Sea or rock salt (optional) 

Method

  • Place flour, yeast and salt into a bowl and mix well. 
  • Add the oil and most of the water and mix. 
  • Add the remainder of the water to bring together to form a soft dough (I found I needed  bit more flour). 
  • Knead for 5 minutes until smooth, allow to rest for 5 minutes and then knead in the olives and sage. 
  • Tip into a large bowl, cover with lightly oiled cling film and put in a warm place to rise for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. 
  • Make indentations in the top with your thumb and sprinkle half the chopped garlic over each loaf, and then pour over 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Lay the sage leaves over the top and sprinkle with salt crystals. 
  • Cook at 230ºC (450ºF) Gas Mark 8 for 15-20 minutes. 



READ MORE

Wednesday 13 August 2014

The Great Blogger Bake Off: Week 2 - Biscuits

   


 
So it's week two of the Great British Bake Off, and therefore week 2 of the Blogger Bake Off. On the last episode, it was mentioned that this week's theme would be biscuits. Now I don't have a very good track record with biscuits - I always manage to over-do them, so as you can imagine I was pretty nervous about baking this week. It's bad enough baking for the family and getting it wrong, but when I'm sharing it with you guys, there's an added pressure. It's a good job I'm not on the actual show really - just one disapproving head shake from Mary Berry and I'd crumble like my over-baked biscuits. 

Luckily though, I'm quite pleased with my bakes this week. I chose to make Florentines, because after looking at the recipe, the likelihood of over-baking them seemed pretty low. They are so cute and delicate and ridiculously easy to make (although I did create an awful mess). 

Ingredients
85g unsalted butter
85g golden syrup
30g plain flour
30g chopped almonds
30g chopped mixed peel
60g sultanas and crystalized fruits
60g glace cherries, chopped
110g plain or white chocolate, or some of each, melted
2 baking sheets lined with non-stick baking parchment. 

Method
1) Put the butter and golden syrup in a medium, heavy-based saucepan and heat until melted. Stir in the remaining ingredients except the chocolate. 
2) Put teaspoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them well apart. Flatten lightly with the back of a spoon. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) Gas 4 for 7-8 minutes until light golden brown. 
3)Remove from the oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes, or until firm enough to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 
4)When cool, coat the flat underside of each Florentine with melted chocolate and, using a serrated icing spatula or a fork, make a wavy pattern in the chocolate. Leave to set, chocolate side up. Store in a cool place in an airtight container and eat within 1 week. 

READ MORE

Wednesday 6 August 2014

The Great Blogger Bake Off: Week 1 - Cakes



Evening all. 

This post is very different to what I usually write about, but this is something I couldn't resist doing. 
Now if you're an avid baker you're probably more than aware that the Great British Bake Off starts tonight. 
So in homage to this mouth-wateringly addictive show, the lovely Lawra over at I Love Crafty has organised a Great Blogger Bake Off, where once a week, alongside the show, bloggers bake something inline with the theme of that week's show. 

Now I love any excuse to bake, however I only found out about the whole thing this morning. I didn't want to miss out on the first post though. Now in true Come Dine With Me style, I'm going to come clean and say I didn't bake this today. However, this was a very recent bake of mine that was dedicated to the using up of my homegrown harvest of redcurrents, tayberries and blackcurrents. 

I'd never worked with these berries before and had no idea what to do with them, but was determined to make a cake. After a bit of research, I found this Good Food recipe. Alas, still no use of my berries, so I had to adapt it a little. 

First off, I didn't have a loaf tin so used a normal, round spring-form tin. Apart from that the majority of the recipe is pretty much the same. I had to add a bit more sugar than the recipe states when reducing the berries with the lemon juice, simply because my selection of berries were a lot more sour tasting compared to those in the recipe.  

I can only apologise for this very lackluster first post to what I would love to have been an icing fueled, bowl licking extravaganza. 

I do solemnly swear that my next post will contain more dedication. 

Enjoy the first show of this Great British Bake Off season!!

(Would still recommend this cake though, a great use of a homegrown harvest, and can really be applied to any berries you have lying around.) 




READ MORE