Perseverance paid off. What I’ve produced yesterday ended up in the bin, buns went hard when completely cooled  and were rubbish. Kitchen Aid will be fixed, Florek promised, while I took a different recipe, bought some fresh yeast in the bakery and having gotten a new haircut- got back to baking.

The recipe I used this time came from GF, the section when the kids are encouraged to bake, so if that didn’t work I’d feel like an idiot, but it did work.

I used 400 g of strong bread flour, 21 g of fresh yeast, crumbled into it ( a nice hint found online regarding dry yeast vs fresh, it’s all multiplied by 3, so if the recipe calls for 7g of dry yeast, fresh yeast should be 21 g), 60 g of sugar, 1 tbsp each of mixed spice and cinnamon, all mixed in the bowl. Then 250 ml of warm milk, 1 beaten egg, 50 g of melted butter and all that was kneaded for about 10 minutes, had to add quite a lot of flour to keep it together.  Within an hour on a sunny windowsill, under the cloth it more than doubled in size, so I knocked it down a little, added the sultanas and chocolate chips and when formed in 10 perfect buns, left to prove for another 20 minutes. I made the paste with plain flour, sugar and vanilla paste and painted the crosses, but they melted in and can’t be seen. The buns baked in 200 degrees for 20 minutes. When slightly cooled I brushed them with apricot jam, warmed up. Very pleased for a change.

In an hour we’re off to Stratford upon Avon to meet Jimbo and Louise for dinner, Izzie seems to be allowing it. I’m craving some good prawn dish  and in  the place we’re going  to they have gamberetti bruschetta on the a la carte menu. Yum .

I have just come to a conclusion, that the best cooking and baking I do is spontaneous. I was planning on cooking the breast of lamb, as Tom Kerridge showed in Food & Drink, was thinking about it for the whole week, how I’d do it, discussed with the butcher and stuff and then I made it and it was ok, not good enough to blog it, I decided. Today at midday I thought- I want an apple pie, now. I made it using the recipe from “The Art of Pastry” book, half a portion, for 2 people to pig it, not 6 and I love it.

For the sweet shortcrust pastry I used 175 g of plain flour, 90 g of butter, a pinch of salt, 2 tbsp of cold water to bind it and, after a moment of consideration sexed it up with a tbsp of ground almonds and some sugar. Chilled it for 30 mins, while I peeled and thinly sliced 2 large bramley apples, sweetened and spiced them with cinnamon and lots of my mom’s fried orange peel and dusted with some flour, as the recipe suggested. I also folded through the remaining apple puree I made for souffles last night, it oozed out and on the photo looks like caramel on the edge of the pie.

My small 15″ tin was great again, this pie will be finished this evening, no doubt, enjoyed fresh and nothing wasted. The amount of filling was perfect and I even cut out some leaves to make it look nice on the top. Finished with egg white and a sprinkle of brown sugar it baked in 200 degrees for 30 mins, then in 180 for another 15 mins.

Custard- simplicity and no recipe. 2 egg yolks whipped with a random amount of sugar and a good tsp of corn flour, while double cream and milk with a vanilla pod were heating up on the stove. I whisked it through the egg mixture and returned to the pan, till slightly thickened.

Love the pie, that orange rind is sensational.

From the latest GF. I’ve made half a portion this afternoon, on the thought that Sunday without a home baked cake is just a tiny little bit shit. 🙂

For my small tin, which I greased and lined with parchment, while the oven was warming up to 180 degrees I used 100 g of soft butter, 110 g of soft brown sugar, creamed nicely together, 2 eggs added one by one, , 100 g of self raising flour, 25 g of desiccated coconut and about 70 g of Greek style yoghurt, coconut flavoured, ideally- mine was not, Co-Op is not that advanced. If I were to stick with the half a portion, I’d have used half a can of sliced mango, but I used it all, some on the bottom of the tin, the rest folded in. It was a good idea, made the cake moist and lovely, I need to work out some more coconut flavour in it next time. That yoghurt maybe, or some coconut cream, we’ll see.

I sprinkled a bit of desiccated coconut on top and whacked it in the oven for 30 minutes. Nice.

Nigella’s recipe. Go Nigella!!!! I made them cause I felt like banana muffins and as a sign of solidarity for Nigella, who’s private life has been pissed all over in courts and tabloids recently.

I used 75g of melted butter, 250 g of self raising flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of soda, pinch of salt, a good tsp of cinnamon, 115  of caster sugar, all waiting in the bowl apart from butter, that was awaiting its turn on the hob. I blitzed 2 ripe bananas, added to the dry ingredients, then 2 whole eggs, beaten, 1 tsp of vanilla paste, same amount of honey, that melted butter that was waiting and 125ml of milk. I also threw a handful of chopped walnuts, they were looking at me from the pantry shelf.

All this nicely combined went onto greased muffin tray, made me 12 nice muffins easily. Baked in 190 degrees for about 40 minutes, I kept on checking, as in the recipe Nigella said 20-25 minutes. The stick kept on coming out too moist for my liking.

The smell in the house- awesome. The taste, lovely, or, to quote Florian- pretty fucking good. I would be happy to throw one more banana in next time. And maybe even more cinnamon. Ha. 🙂

I’m in the middle of one, while writing. It’s a bit like a coarse souffle, the bottom- that was top in the oven- is crunchy and rich from the butter, the cake is moist and lovely with chunks of pineapple and lovely and wet right under the pineapple ring. What would make it a great, accomplished dessert would be a scoop of some lovely sorbet on the side, maybe coconut or passion fruit. I’ll remember that when having people over for dinner next time.

For 4 of those I used 25 g of butter creamed with same amount of sugar and a tbsp of rum, generously spread on the bottom of my creme brulee ramekins. Canned pineapple rings were too big, so needed a good trim,but eventually were placed on the bottom with  a cherry in the middle( I used cherries in kirsch leftover from Black Forrest Gateaux). Then the cake mix;

70 g of butter and caster sugar, 1 whole egg, 70 g of self raising flour, 25 g of desiccated coconut, half a tsp of baking powder and about 2 pineapple rings finely chopped. I thought it was a bit too thick, so I added a bit of pineapple juice to loosen it. Also, filling up the ramekins too much is not clever, as they will overflow and will be a mess to get out later. One learns from one’s mistakes( occasionally).

Well pleased with oneself. 🙂

I was asked to bake something with chocolate and I obliged. On a Saturday afternoon with rain and wind outside and a prospect of spicy chorizo pasta in the evening- I produced little mini black forest gateaux slash chocolate muffins slash Schwartzwalder tartlets….:-)))

I baked the bases in my muffin tray, I might have paid more attention while spooning them out into it, as they rose with little peaks on top. Had they been flat, the presentation would have been a lot more professional.

For 9 little muffins I used 110 g of soft butter, same amount of sugar, 80 g of self raising flour, 2 eggs, 30 g of cocoa powder and a touch of baking powder, all for Maurycy Kitchen Aid to work into a lovely, brown mixture, which baked in 190 degrees for about 23 minutes.

When cooled and sliced in half I soaked both parts with kirsch, then spread some morello cherry jam on the bottom parts, followed by some whipped cream, but not too much, as not to make them sickly. On the cream went cherries from the kirsch, then the top of the muffin, more cream, a cherry on top and a sprinkle of dark chocolate. Very pleasant indeed.

One more golden thought for improvement- next time I’ll use my Soplica Polish vodka to soak the cakes, as the kirsch thingy is rather shy on flavour.

On the same note as the previous post, I must just add yesterday’s creation. My new cake tin, tiny and round is a perfect size, nothing gets wasted. And decorating cakes is lots of fun, I’m very pleased with the presentation. Simple sponge made of 2 egg whites, random amount of sugar, 2 egg yolks beaten in, 2 tbsp of plain flour, 1 tbsp of potato flour and a touch of baking powder, all baked for about 25 minutes in 180 degrees. Sponge cut in half and filled with whipped cream with chopped, tinned pineapple, on top toasted flaked almonds, glace cherries and a touch of love. Made us a lovely dessert to finish a very nice 2013. :-)))

I wanted to make a really fancy cake for Christmas, something between yule log and a Swiss roll, stuffed with cream and raspberries. I cocked up the base, which ended up in the bin but I really wanted to make up for it and use up the raspberries, it is after all December and I had 2 packets in the fridge ( they’re Spanish).

So I baked a simple cocoa sponge, whipped 2 whites with sugar, added the yolks, a heaped tbsp of plain flour, same of cocoa and of potato flour, a touch of baking powder and baked in my new small and cute cake tin. After 25 minutes I had a lovely brown sponge, which, when cooled and halved I generously covered with raspberries and whipped cream. To finish, I used my new decorating tips, what a joy to use!

Loving the cake, not to sweet, the base is light and tasty, the berries nice and sharp. Yum!