Tag Archives: baking

Favourite posts this week

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Tuesday craft group tea break

:: I’m very lucky to be able to have lunch with my husband every day. With our budget we eat very little meat, but the baked squash with garlic cream sounds delicious!

:: Editing fairytales – something we should do for our boy too. Not just for girls, right?

:: Tuna sandwiches! Got to love them. Toasted bread, mayo (homemade) and lots of pepper for me. I can’t say I have a problem with sweetcorn though!

:: Fig newtons – don’t think I’ve had them, are they like fig rolls? Sarah’s version look amazing though, will try and make next week…

:: Chocolate caramel tartlets. Love the teeny, tiny size. Potential Christmas treat?

:: A very good friend of ours has just set off on an epic world journey with his girlfriend. I love his writing, you might enjoy it too.

:: This cake is similar to our chocolate guinness cake. Sharing simply because I loved the post, it made me miss my dad!

:: Twice baked potato pie – love that their daughter came up with the idea!

:: Aaaaah this is crazy! My mind is blown by these kids.

Wishing you a very happy weekend!

Bake

xoxo

Savoury Courgette Cheesecake

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I know it’s November (November?!) and you’re all thinking about pumpkins and feeling snug and cosy with the heating on etc, but whilst I can still buy them, I am making the most of courgettes.

The truth is, I’m just not ready to move on.

When we have beautiful, warm weather like this…

…I don’t feel like wrapping up and eating something hot!

This recipe was inspired by a post I saw a few weeks ago. I think I shared it with you too?

I changed it up a little, as usual, and we are really enjoying the result – the lemon zest in particular just makes it taste extra special.

I made it during a baby nap, so you know it doesn’t take long to whip up!

It isn’t going to win any beauty contests, but it really tastes delicious.

Courgette cheesecake
- serves 4-6

Note: I used two tins, one of 18 cm and one of 13 cm (used in the photos). You could probably just use the large one and have a deeper cheesecake. Or use a bigger tin of course.

100g crackers/savoury biscuits, crushed – I use TUC, Ritz would probably also work well
50g melted butter
1 large courgette, grated
200g goats cheese
3 large tablespoons fromage frais/crème fraîche/natural yoghurt
2 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove – I used 2, but would use just 1 if serving to other people
small handful of basil leaves, torn
2 tablespoons plain flour
Salt and pepper, as desired

Preheat oven to 170degC

Melt butter and add to crushed crackers. Stir to coat and press into cake tin.
You want a buttery biscuit base ;)

Bake the base in the oven for around 10 minutes. Remove and leave to cool.

Beat goats cheese in large bowl until softened. Add garlic, fromage frais, eggs, plain flour, lemon zest and mix together until combined.

Add the basil, grated courgette and season. Stir so that courgette is evenly distributed.

Pour mixture onto buttery biscuit base and return to the oven for about 40 minutes. The cheesecake should start to colour but not be completely brown. You don’t want it to jiggle too much either.

Serve warm, or cold from the fridge.

Enjoy!

Bake

xoxo

 

Macarons part deux

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Coffee and chocolate macarons

I don’t know if you follow us on twitter, but if you do you’ll know that I managed to sneak in the second attempt of macaron making today.

Mixing on baby’s floor a.k.a multitasking

Those of you with babies will know that this is a minor miracle, especially when baby is napping less and moving more!

Nevertheless, I had my points for improvement from last time and was therefore focused and efficient.

Coffee macaron mix

I decided that whilst I’m still learning, I will reduce my quantities to just one egg white. I can’t stand waste! I didn’t weigh it though, so next time I will.

I made a few more folds when mixing than last time (although it was technically fewer as I had a larger volume then…but you know what I mean!). I think I should do more folds still next time as the mix was still a little pointy.

Time to rest

I also let the macarons rest for the full hour before baking, although I found some advice today saying 20-40 minutes is plenty…hmmm. Please ignore the fact that I didn’t fill my circles – laziness? lack of time? I just wanted to make more!

Some cracks did form, but only on half of the macarons – the ones at the back of the oven. Next time I might turn them around halfway through cooking.

Nicer bottom eh? This time only one stuck to the baking paper! I baked them for 15 minutes and then left them in the oven for another 2 minutes with the oven switched off.

Macaron “feet” starting to form

So the infamous macaron feet did start to form, which is much better than last time! Maybe with a little more folding the feet will improve. I’ll also reduce the resting time.

I filled the macarons with a chocolate buttercream, too generously according to just one person ;)

They were gone within an hour!

Bake

xoxo

Favourite posts this week

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Intense clouds from the front door

:: Answers about Felix Baumgartner’s skydive. Incredible video!

:: We all need a classic chicken stock recipe.

:: Beautiful photos. Beautiful pie. Anyone else fancy a pie party? We could have these pot pies too.

:: We were given some basil the other day from a friend, but I think this mustard green pesto would be delicious.

:: Boy do I miss mature cheddar. I want these crackers, but will need to use something french instead. Poor me ;)

:: My comfort food? Pie – fish, chicken, whatever. How about you?

:: What a clever idea! Might be something I could do for Christmas gifts.

:: Love this Onion Tale. Adding the book to my wishlist now.

:: Cheesecake courgette & chèvre - looks delicious. On next week’s meal planner!

Wow – lots of links this week. Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.

We are going to pop to Spain today or tomorrow – well, why not?

Wishing you a happy, healthy weekend!

Bake

xoxo

Macarons in the making

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Coffee macarons – first attempt.

I was tempted not to write this post. I definitely didn’t want to include any photos, but here we are!

For our anniversary (first year is paper) Shake bought me a little french book on making macarons. He always manages to pick something I have been thinking about without having told him! 

Today whilst baby napped I decided to make my first batch. I was really strict about measuring the ingredients accurately (very unlike me…) and borrowed an electric whisk for the egg whites as I wanted to make them as best I could.

I actually had to whisk the whites in the spare room so it didn’t wake the boy up – that’s one disadvantage of his room being next to the kitchen!

People seem to be daunted about making macarons, and having tried now I can see why! So, the purpose of this post is to document what went wrong and what I will change for next time.

Macarons resting

I am happy with my measurements, but having carried out some research after I made my mix, it is suggested to use egg whites that have been left out for at least 24 hours! Oops. Well, next time I will plan in advance.

Another factor I can change is that I think I needed to mix the mixture?batter? a little more as when piped onto the tray the macarons had little peaks (you don’t want to know what Shake said they looked like…!). I used a damp finger to smooth them down before baking, but this is apparently a sign of under-mixing.

Cracked macarons

I’m not 100% sure what was wrong with the shells above, but it might again be due to the mixture not being mixed enough? Or I didn’t leave them out for long enough before baking? Or they were in the oven for slightly too long? Hmmm….who knows!

Interestingly, these shells came off of the paper very easily, whereas the shells from the shelf above stuck to the baking paper. I say “interestingly”, but actually this was annoying!

I used a tip I read here (from the Macaron Queen :) ) and put some water under the sheet for a few minutes and they did mostly come off.

I made a coffee buttercream to fill the shells and we did sample a few.

They tasted pretty great, but obviously not as good as these (yet!).

If you have made macarons before and have any suggestions/hints for me I’d love to hear them!

Bake

xoxo

 

 

Favourite posts this week

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:: It’s starting to grow a little cooler these days, so this looks perfect for cosy evenings.

:: As you can see, it’s been a week of fig picking! This raw fig and raspberry pie looks amazing. So does this cake!

:: Trouble sleeping? Here’s some helpful advice. I really recommend taking the TV out of the bedroom!

:: Boobs are indeed brilliant. What an awesome lady.

:: We are trying hard to enjoy everything we eat. Cauliflower is usually where we struggle. Hoping that recipe will help us!

:: Click and drag. Do it! (You may need a spare 30 minutes)

:: Yummy cookies with saffron.

:: Luscious deserts with vegetables? Thanks Chucky :)

:: I love Nigel

Have a wonderful weekend

Bake

xoxo

Tartine bread, cast-iron combo cooker alternative

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Photo credit to an endless banquet

If like me you’ve read Tartine Bread, but can’t find any shops nearby that sell the lovely cast iron double dutch oven combo cookers recommended, there is an alternative.

Or at least I thought there was…

Then before I’d finished writing this post I ran into a problem.

Emile Henry tagineOur Emile Henry tagine is meant to be invincible to heat. The manufacturers claim you can move this straight from a freezer into a 500 degree oven without causing any damage.

But after a few weeks of (very successfully) baking bread every day ours has cracked.

Maybe this isn’t the cause of the problem, but I can’t think what else would do this after 5 years of use.

Cracked Tagine

So moving on, I had a look at dutch oven combo cookers for sale online, but ended up ordering a La Cloche Baking Dome instead. It looks made for the job.

Fingers crossed.

Bread proofing box – improvised alternative

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Improvised bread proofing boxOne of the challenges of baking sourdough here is that it proves very quickly in the heat. If I’m out working in the morning, it can be over-proven by the time I get back at lunch.

So I’m using our cool box (for our shopping) as an improvised proofing box. Currently four ice-packs seems to retard the dough just enough for my purposes.

It’ll be a very different story in the winter though, so I’ve been checking out some designs for home-made proofing boxes.

I feel another carpentry project may be on the horizon.

 

Pain Poilâne meets Tartine Bread

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They say a baker’s score is their signature, and my initial A actually works quite well as a cut. (Plus you can call it anarchy bread if you’re that way inclined)

I’ve been baking daily using the Tartine Bread method and I’m really pleased with the results. Each day I’ve been trying a different mix of flour, starting with the suggested 90% white / 10% wholemeal, testing varying amounts of white flour, grey flour, wholemeal and rye (up to 10%). The technique holds up well for all these combinations, so I decided to push on with my original goal of producing something similar to a Pain Poilane.

The snippet I had from Wikipedia was that Pain Poilane is 70% grey flour and 30% spelt, which was as good a starting point as any. I found spelt flour (farine d’épeautre) at one of the Bio stores nearby, but was a little put off by the price (over double the cost of wheat or rye).

Due to the extra expense of the spelt flour, a part of me was hoping the difference in taste would be negligible (as the recipe was tasting pretty good already). But it was a hit, and has had the best reviews from all the family. So great for the taste, but a shame about the price. Now I need to find a local mill that can offer a better price if I’m buying larger quantities.

Collapsed a little due to (forgetful) overproofing, so the crumb is tighter than planned

Tartine Bread: simplified recipe notes

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Worth the effort. This sourdough is made from the Tartine Bread recipe.

This isn’t much use on it’s own, but I’ve seen a few people find this site when looking for Tartine Bread so I thought I’d share my notes for any one else baking from the same recipe.

I mentioned in the past that the book is pretty confusing to follow (though well worth the effort), so I ended up writing these notes out on a piece of paper that I keep in the front of the book.

If you haven’t already read the book, do that first as this is deliberately in note form. And for those of you who’ve read it, I hope this helps.

Leaven

- 1 tablespoon of starter
- 200g 50/50 white/wholemeal flour
- 200g water

1) Mix
2) Cover
3) Wait 12 hrs

Bread

- 1000g flour (900g white, 100g wholemeal)
- 700g water, plus 50-80g (work up to 80 for increased hydration %)
- 200g leaven
- 20g salt

1) 700g water in bowl, add leaven and stir
2) Add 1000g flour, mix and leave for 25-40 mins
3) Add salt plus 50g-80g of additional water, mix by hand and transfer to glass bowl
4) BULK RISE (3-4 hrs at average temperature. Adjust time and taste by managing temperature)
5) During bulk rise, turn every 30 mins for first 2 hrs
6) BENCH REST dough onto work surface, flour, cut, flip, fold and rest for 20-30 mins
7) SHAPE and place in rice flour dusted baskets
8) PROOF (3-4 hrs at average temperature. Adjust time and taste by managing temperature)
9) Pre-heat combo-oven/tagine at 500F/260C
10) Dust base of loaf, flip into base of combo-oven
11) Cover, reduce to 230C and bake for 20 mins
12) Uncover and bake for 20-25 mins

Enjoy.

Shake out.