It would seem that in my haste to finish my weekly shop in the local supermarket and leave as soon as humanly possible I picked up the wrong flour!
Luckily what I did pick up is still bread flour but is granary bread flour not white so having looked into it and seeing that recipes for the two different loafs differ slightly I have ditched my plans for the lovely white loaf pictured in my new cookbook and instead gone with the Hovis recipe for a granary loaf which features (quite handily I might add!) on the packet.
500g granary bread flour,
25g butter
1 +1/4 tsp salt
7g sachet of fast action fresh dried yeast
275ml of lukewarm water.
Basically in a large bowl I was told to mix together the flour and salt, rub in the butter and then stir in the yeast.
Then you stir in water and mix into a soft dough.
I then turned out the dough onto a floured surface and kneaded it for about 10 minutes by hand, many thoughts go through my head when I do something like kneading dough, mainly why haven't you got a food mixer with one of those lovely dough hooks on them so you wouldn't have to do this right now but I also formed a plan to nip to Tesco before I collect the kids to buy the correct flour and attempt to make the white loaf later on as originally planned, as I feel I haven't quite lived up to what I planned to do and as we go through bread at quite a fast rate in this house an extra loaf wont do any harm. I can also compare the two different types and see which one tastes nicer or looks better! yes I feel this is a good idea.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Challenge number 2!
So the cupcakes have been sent out.... well I think they have one set I have entrusted one of my sons to deliver to my friend as I missed her on the school run this morning.
I have chosen to make bread today! i am taking the recipe for a white loaf from my newest cook book 'The Great British bake off How to bake' which is the book which accompanies the BBC2 series which recently aired and I really enjoyed watching each week.
It says I need 700g of strong white bread flour,
2 tsp sea salt flakes crushed ( really??? I can't be bothered to go buy that so I will be using ground sea salt as I already have it in the cupboard we will soon learn if this a mistake wont we?)
1x 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast.
About 450ml of lukewarm water (now that's more my kind of measurement 'about' leaves room for interpretation and seeing how it looks)
O.k so I will endeavour to go and make the dough now it can sit and rise while I do the afternoon school run and then I'll bake it once I'm home again and hopefully I can serve nice freshly baked bread with dinner tonight, where I will get the opinions of those who try it. Obviously no matter what the outcome I will take photos to show you all how it all goes.
I have chosen to make bread today! i am taking the recipe for a white loaf from my newest cook book 'The Great British bake off How to bake' which is the book which accompanies the BBC2 series which recently aired and I really enjoyed watching each week.
It says I need 700g of strong white bread flour,
2 tsp sea salt flakes crushed ( really??? I can't be bothered to go buy that so I will be using ground sea salt as I already have it in the cupboard we will soon learn if this a mistake wont we?)
1x 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast.
About 450ml of lukewarm water (now that's more my kind of measurement 'about' leaves room for interpretation and seeing how it looks)
O.k so I will endeavour to go and make the dough now it can sit and rise while I do the afternoon school run and then I'll bake it once I'm home again and hopefully I can serve nice freshly baked bread with dinner tonight, where I will get the opinions of those who try it. Obviously no matter what the outcome I will take photos to show you all how it all goes.
Sunday, 30 October 2011
flowers
I should add that as described in the you tube video I researched, sugarpaste flowers are very easy to make but after making 12 I was very bored and didn't find it fun at all.
Next time I will try making bigger ones see if its less tedious.
Next time I will try making bigger ones see if its less tedious.
Results
As you can see these are the finished cupcakes.
Are they the best looking cakes in the world? well no probably not but they sure as hell aren't the worst either!
Do they taste good?? ooohhh yess, I can say that having eaten at least 6 of them (all in the name of science obviously- i can't give an honest opinion if I haven't taken into account everything can I?) the sponge is soft and light and the icing is creamy and chocolatey.
In the spirit of this whole blog i would add that they can be slightly sickly... but again this may be due to me eating 6 of them, it is also possible that the glass of iron-bru I was drinking didn't help either!
A box is being given to 2 of my friends tomorrow so that she can give an opinion, and they will also be served up as an after dinner treat for my kids tomorrow. You may think this will not provide an honest feed back but that will be because you haven't met my children, ranging in ages from 4 to 11 they are the most honest (sometimes soul-destroyingly honest) critics of my home bakes. If they like it they will praise and ask for more to be made in the future, if its not up to scratch they wont even attempt to finish it. Far from being rude I like this, they even tell me what hasn't quite worked.
So tomorrow I will report back on what everyone thought, and will also let you know what the next project will be, As I type this eating another cupcake and pouring myself another glass of iron-bru I'm thinking something savoury this time.
Are they the best looking cakes in the world? well no probably not but they sure as hell aren't the worst either!
Do they taste good?? ooohhh yess, I can say that having eaten at least 6 of them (all in the name of science obviously- i can't give an honest opinion if I haven't taken into account everything can I?) the sponge is soft and light and the icing is creamy and chocolatey.
In the spirit of this whole blog i would add that they can be slightly sickly... but again this may be due to me eating 6 of them, it is also possible that the glass of iron-bru I was drinking didn't help either!
A box is being given to 2 of my friends tomorrow so that she can give an opinion, and they will also be served up as an after dinner treat for my kids tomorrow. You may think this will not provide an honest feed back but that will be because you haven't met my children, ranging in ages from 4 to 11 they are the most honest (sometimes soul-destroyingly honest) critics of my home bakes. If they like it they will praise and ask for more to be made in the future, if its not up to scratch they wont even attempt to finish it. Far from being rude I like this, they even tell me what hasn't quite worked.
So tomorrow I will report back on what everyone thought, and will also let you know what the next project will be, As I type this eating another cupcake and pouring myself another glass of iron-bru I'm thinking something savoury this time.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
let the icing commence
So the 3 icing's I planned to make today has turned in to 4 different types, all chocolate based.
I have made a plain chocolate ganache, a white chocolate ganache, a white chocolate and vanilla ganache, and finally a white chocolate butter cream.
All of them are now cooling in my kitchen until they can be used on the cupcakes I made last night.
Have I tasted them?? well of course I have! I love sweets very much anyway but I also wanted to see if they were at all edible, which I'm happy to report that at this stage they all are. I think the white chocolate butter cream will probably be my favourite but we will wait and see.
My next mission is to make my own sugarpaste roses to add a little extra decoration to each cupcake, having looked this up on you-tube I am assured by the very efficient and professional looking lady in the video, this is very simple to do and will only take minuets....hhhmmm we will see!
For those of you who are interested I took the ganache recipe from Jane Asher who suggests 100g chocolate, 100ml double cream, and 1 table spoon of corn or sunflower oil.
I have tried substituting the oil for vanilla essence in the white chocolate and vanilla icing.
The white chocolate butter cream was a recipe I found on line a while ago and wrote on a scrap of paper which has been pinned to the notice board in my kitchen for a while it says, 175g of chocolate, 75g of butter 90ml double cream and finally 115g of icing sugar.
Basically each recipe is similar in method- put chocolate in a heat proof bowl, heat the cream in a small saucepan until just at boiling point then pour over the chocolate. Leave for about 30 seconds then add the oil and quickly whisk until smooth and shiny. Leave it to thicken (that's what I hope is happening while i'm writing this) The butter cream, you melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of hot water, remove from the heat and then add the double cream and lastly the icing sugar at which point you stir like a mad thing until its smooth and creamy looking. That last bit wasn't actually in the method but I feel it would have been handy if it had have been so that I knew what to expect, because 'then stir' I don't think covered it!
Now to do those roses.
I have made a plain chocolate ganache, a white chocolate ganache, a white chocolate and vanilla ganache, and finally a white chocolate butter cream.
All of them are now cooling in my kitchen until they can be used on the cupcakes I made last night.
Have I tasted them?? well of course I have! I love sweets very much anyway but I also wanted to see if they were at all edible, which I'm happy to report that at this stage they all are. I think the white chocolate butter cream will probably be my favourite but we will wait and see.
My next mission is to make my own sugarpaste roses to add a little extra decoration to each cupcake, having looked this up on you-tube I am assured by the very efficient and professional looking lady in the video, this is very simple to do and will only take minuets....hhhmmm we will see!
For those of you who are interested I took the ganache recipe from Jane Asher who suggests 100g chocolate, 100ml double cream, and 1 table spoon of corn or sunflower oil.
I have tried substituting the oil for vanilla essence in the white chocolate and vanilla icing.
The white chocolate butter cream was a recipe I found on line a while ago and wrote on a scrap of paper which has been pinned to the notice board in my kitchen for a while it says, 175g of chocolate, 75g of butter 90ml double cream and finally 115g of icing sugar.
Basically each recipe is similar in method- put chocolate in a heat proof bowl, heat the cream in a small saucepan until just at boiling point then pour over the chocolate. Leave for about 30 seconds then add the oil and quickly whisk until smooth and shiny. Leave it to thicken (that's what I hope is happening while i'm writing this) The butter cream, you melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of hot water, remove from the heat and then add the double cream and lastly the icing sugar at which point you stir like a mad thing until its smooth and creamy looking. That last bit wasn't actually in the method but I feel it would have been handy if it had have been so that I knew what to expect, because 'then stir' I don't think covered it!
Now to do those roses.
Friday, 28 October 2011
easing myself in
O.k I thought I would start off with something very easy, something I knew I could already make just so it wasn't a complete disaster right from the start. I made cupcakes, bog-basic vanilla sponge cupcakes, although I used golden caster sugar instead of white like I would normally do, is there a huge difference?? in taste, not really, as far as I can tell, but the sponge is a darker shade than normal. They have been safely stored away until tomorrow morning when I will try 3 different types of icing and decorations. I really haven't pushed myself with this one as I'm always making cupcakes but I will be trying the different icing in a bid to see what I can do.
Photo's to follow.
First post ever.
Today is the first day of my new blog, I am going to search cookbooks, cookery websites, magazines and watch cooking programmes in the hope of finding the best home bakes to try out and make myself at home until I have complied a comprehensive list of favourites that I can bake and decorate to a very high standard repeatedly.
I will be charting my highs and lows on here as I trial new and old recipes. I have some taste testers lined up to give honest opinions on taste texture etc. and hope that by posting photos on here anyone who reads this can comment on 'looks'
I want to try different ingredients, different utensils and tools and will always be honest with the results. This isn't a blog to promote a business (although who knows maybe one day it will be) it's just a way of sharing everything I learn along the way.
So have your fingers crossed for me, as tonight (now my 3 little ones have been safely tucked up in bed) I start!
I will be charting my highs and lows on here as I trial new and old recipes. I have some taste testers lined up to give honest opinions on taste texture etc. and hope that by posting photos on here anyone who reads this can comment on 'looks'
I want to try different ingredients, different utensils and tools and will always be honest with the results. This isn't a blog to promote a business (although who knows maybe one day it will be) it's just a way of sharing everything I learn along the way.
So have your fingers crossed for me, as tonight (now my 3 little ones have been safely tucked up in bed) I start!
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