Autumnal baking

I've been baking quite a bit in the last few weeks - partly inspired by the Great British Bake Off, partly in practice for the Brussels bake off in which I am participating, and partly to celebrate the tastes of autumn. There have been quite a few firsts...

First attempt at parkin - I had a hankering for something dark, rich and gingery. I think I added too much baking powder but it still tasted AWESOME! Recipe here.

First chocolate and beetroot cake. This looked fabulously pink while making it but came out beautifully. I wasn't sure how beetroot-y it would taste - the answer is not at all. The beetroot counteracts the 'sickliness' tendancy of chocolate cake, and made it beautifully moist. I took this into work - one colleague had three slices, and no one could taste the beetroot.

First chocolate ganache - I always thought this was a highly complex process but it's mind-numbingly simple and I will most definitely be repeating this. Yum!

I've also been baking some staples - chocolate cupcakes.

Homemade pizza

Saturday night is treat night. For several years now, we have planned, cooked and eaten (well, my boyfriend largely does the planning and cooking) healthy meals during the week, and on Saturday we can forget about diets and weight loss and cholesterol, and splurge.

It's a great trick because it's not that we can't eat pizza, burgers, ice cream, chips - we just have to wait until Saturday, so it helps with will power when one of us is trying to lose some weight. It also means we don't get too tired of eating healthy meals, or too tired of cooking, because we have usually eaten out on Saturdays, or got takeway. No cooking, no washing up.

Then we had a go at homemade pizza. I don't think we will ever again be able to spend €30 between us on a couple of takeaway pizzas, when we can make even more fabulous homemade pizza for half that, and have enough to invite some friends over to share it with us. We can even open a nice bottle of wine, or some craft beer, and still spend far less than we would in a pizza restaurant.

Homemade burgers followed, with homemade bread buns, grilled cheese and bacon. Yum. Why go out to a noisy pub when we can enjoy something so much nicer and cheaper in the comfort of our own home? (I've been checking out recipes for barbeque sauce, might have to have a go at that.)

I strongly encourage everyone to have a go at homemade pizza. I've been making bread for years and thought pizza dough would be difficult, but its the easiest bread recipe I've come across. I use this recipe from the River Cottage Bread Recipe Book. It only needs to rise once before baking, so I can have it from the bowl to the oven in less than an hour, or it can be left to develop more. 

 

My boyfriend mixes up a paste from tomato concentrate, which we always have in the cupboard. The only thing we need to go out and buy for this is the cheese, ham or other toppings. It's super quick and super tasty and super filling.

Saturday night is still treat night, but we are increasingly using it to invite people over. A couple of pizzas, a bowl of salad and a bottle of wine makes for an incredibly easy but really nice evening. Throw in some decent ice cream or even a pre-prepared tiramisu and we can call it a dinner party. 

I've even been able to add some fresh basil - my first homegrown ingredient on a homemade pizza.

Progress, or My Easter Monday in pictures

:: Finished scarf with tassels ::

:: Pickled beetroot ::

 

:: Fresh beetroot and radishes growing beautifully ::

 

 :: First try at a loaf with my sourdough starter ::

 

:: Skirt lining - just needs hemming and putting into the skirt ::

Book of Fermentations

It's amazing how quickly something becomes habit, becomes normal. I've been making my own yoghurt for what, two months? And already it's something I have going on in the background while I do the washing up. I've had one or two less successful batches - not kept at warm enough temperatures to incubate, I end with sour-smelling milk. Not sexy. But when it sets perfectly and you can turn a jar on its side like this? I get a thrill that somehow I just don't get from sending emails.

 

But by and large, I'm finding that making yoghurt is a very easy addition to my routine. I'm making yoghurt once or twice a month - it lasts two to three months in the fridge, particularly as I can usually get an airtight seal in the jars by filling them right to the top and ensuring both milk and jar are hot. Yummy and super simple. I'm still making one litre at a time - I did try two litres once, but the jars took up too much space in the fridge.

I'm now moving on to my next fermenting challenge - growing a sourdough starter. I have recently started looking at some things on my want-to list and thinking: well that's straightforward, why don't I give it a go? I have flour, I have plastic tubs, I have water. Let's go.

So far so good - beginning signs of fermentation, and oh my god the smell. Somewhere between rotting fruit, dangerously cheap alcohol and feet. I am assured by my trusty book about bread that the smell will mature, but at this stage I'm opening all the doors and windows every time I take the lid off.

The starter is not yet ready for my first bake, but I've been working up to it by trying out the sponge method of baking bread. Basically, you mix the water, yeast and some flour into a batter the night before you bake, and leave it to ferment. I'm afraid my unsophisticated palate could not detect any great change in flavours and the yeast was not noticeably more active after its overnight feast, but the dough was much easier to knead and work.

The final bread was yummy - I'm gradually expanding the selection of flours in my cupboard and now have white, rye and multigrain. I really, really need to find a better solution to storing the flour than just folding over the tops of the bags but so far, nothing. We use glass jars for the 1kg bags of plain flour, but I generally buy larger quantities of bread flour.

Now wondering what my next adventures in fermenting will be... Any suggestions? I'm thinking of moving on to cultured cheeses, or turning my hand to brewing beer.

Things making me smile

Homemade pizza dough rising. We've got some friends coming over for dinner, and a homemade tiramisu in the fridge for afters. Yum. (And yet my brain is thinking: maybe one day we'll have made the booze as well. And grown the tomatoes. And made the mozzarella.)

I have finally got off my butt and planted up some of the seedlings. I've potted up those with two true leaves of decent size.

I'll be back at length tomorrow, but now we have guests at the door!

Mince pie, anyone?

This evening was staff drinks at work and we're taking it in turns to introduce a national theme. Tonight it was the turn of the Brits, so there was ale, cider and pimms alongside scones, cheese and biscuits. My contribution was mince pies - in part because I still had quite a lot of mincemeat in the fridge.

After my - ahem - less than entirely successful first attempt before Christmas, I'd felt rather discouraged, but this time I used a different recipe - this one by Mary Berry - and it came out beautifully. The pastry was perfectly cooked with no soggy bottoms, and the cranberry jam and mincemeat went beautifully together. Definitely one to be repeated! And it was quite straightforward, no need to chill the pastry or anything.

They went down a treat - none left - and as I still have one more jar of mincemeat in the fridge, I might make another batch. I'm feeling quite proud of these - pastry is not my strength by a very long shot, so the successful avoidance of the soggy bottom is something I am rather pleased with.

Vintage chocolate chip cookies

As some of you may know, I have been hitherto entirely failed to resist the chocolate chip cookies at work. They are terrible, industrial, mass-made biscuits that can last about a year in the packet. They don't even taste nice, they're just moreish.

Last month for the first time, I resisted the call of the biscuit jar all month. No cookies at work. (This doesn't apply to other biscuits, crisps, croissants... but I'm picking my battles - one at a time!) I'm keen to wean myself off this frankly addictive crap - eating real cookies is a far better option than the cardboard stuff from the supermarket. I wouldn't touch a plastic-wrapped cake or plastic-wrapped waffle - so why do I persist in eating plastic-wrapped biscuits?

So to reward my success and make the shop biscuit less appetising, it only seemed logical to bake chocolate chip cookies at home. I haven't made these for ages - if in fact I ever have, not sure - so I'm sure I'll have to bake a few batches before I perfect them. I used this recipe from BBC Good Food - it is called 'Vintage chocolate chip cookies', and I couldn't resist the vintage. I made them over the weekend and they disappeared very quickly, so this is definitely a recipe to be repeated!

Resisting

Today I have a hankering for chocolate. I have resisted the chocolate biscuits in the jar for almost two and a half weeks, which I think must be a record, but today I feel the call. I’m observing a rather unexpected ‘strategy’ which the cravings are using. They tell me: You’ve knocked this. You have developed the self-control to say no to a chocolate biscuit. Therefore you can also say yes. 

This is very sneaky. As I think we all have cause to know and bemoan, each time you say no to the chocolate biscuit makes it a bit easier to say no next time, and each time you say yes makes it a bit harder. I might be able to say no now, but I know that if I say yes once, that will probably make me say yes again and then I’ll be back at square one eating half a packet of biscuits *cough* in a sitting. 

So far I am resolutely resisting. For how long?? I have a theory that if I wait long enough, the industrial biscuits here at work (which have a shelf life of two years!) will not taste nice anymore and that will make it easier to resist, like the first McDonald’s I had in about three years - I was really looking forward to it, I’d missed it and resisted it, but when I bit into the burger it was disgusting, I couldn’t finish it and I’ve never craved fast food since. 

So much of the food we are sold now is so divorced from its origins - a biscuit which lasts two years can’t have much in the way of real butter, eggs or milk in it - that we’ve lost a taste for real food. Like children who grew up during rationing in World War Two, who were so accustomed to the taste of powdered egg that they preferred it to fresh eggs. 

This is really a process of educating my tastebuds and my palate to savour fresh, nutritious foods and discard the crap. The first part is complete - I really enjoy sitting down to a bowl of homemade soup or stew, or a fresh salad. You can just feel it doing your body good, you know? I just haven’t yet fully weaned myself off the processed snack foods - even though I infinitely prefer the taste of a homemade cake or scones to the industrial biscuits.

I will continue to resist the call of the chocolate biscuits. Not thinking about the chocolate biscuits would help...

On the menu today: More turkey

Yesterday I turned my hand to Paul Hollywood's recipe for turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce chelsea buns. They look really colourful and were surprisingly easy to assemble - I think I didn't roll the dough thin enough, though. Next attempt will be thinner. It tastes and smells amazing! This is breakfast...

Just mulling things over

Can you believe I've never made mulled wine before? Even though it's one of my favourite Christmas traditions? Well, this year we're making mulled wine. Inspired by The Twelve Drinks of Christmas, we left the wine, fruit and cinnamon stick to gently macerate overnight before making this up later today. We're getting creative with additions of fresh cranberries and chopped almonds. It already smells divine...

To accompany the mulled wine, I present... my first ever attempt at mince pies. Incredible that I've never made these - normally we have shop-bought most of December, and my cousins' grandmother makes homemade over Christmas (which taste amazing). Mine definitely need some work, but I'm pleased with how well the homemade mincemeat lasted! Might have another go later today, although stollen is also on the agenda.

One loaf is not enough

Yesterday I finally tried out A Girl Called Jack's soda bread recipe. She calls it 'airy fairy easy peasy soda bread' - and it's by far the simplest, quickest, easiest bread I've ever made. It came out beautifully tasty - so much so that one loaf was not enough, and I made another one.

 It's so quick! From start to stomach in an hour. My second loaf was lighter and I reckon I could get it lighter still with time. Both were utterly delicious. I just can't get over how easy and quick! It's a loaf I can make after work that's ready in time for supper, and the ingredients are all things I have in the cupboard/fridge all the time so no planning or shopping is required. It's so simple that I didn't even have to refer to the recipe second time around. Thank you Jack!

Sunday morning

Homemade scones and a fresh pot of tea. Is there a better way to start a busy Sunday?

Reviewing my simple progress

January seems an appropriate month to review my progress in living a simple life. As I set up this new home, I want to ensure that I do so in a way that will enable further simplicity, by taking this opportunity to reduce clutter and arranging things in an organised way.

So to help me organise this, I am reviewing the various things I am managing to do simply, and looking at the areas I want to improve or embrace next.

Lazy Sunday?

Today counts as a lazy Sunday for me, because I've stayed home all day and watched three episodes of Downton Abbey. In between episodes, I have:

::Baked bread for sandwiches::

::Candied citrus peel::

::ALMOST finished the miniature stockings advent calendar::

Do you think I can call this a simple-living-style lazy Sunday?

Bitten by the baking bug

So what is it about Great British Bake Off that has me dusting off my apron and tutting at the poor array of baking equipment in my cupboard? (Seriously. Can't even do a Victoria sponge.) 

I seem to have been bitten by the baking bug. In the last week, I have made: one loaf of white bread with linseeds (and who'd have thought that the humble linseed could so totally transform bread?); one batch of rotis, ginger and oat cookies, chocolate chip and walnut biscuits, and now I have a teeny tiny batch of meringues in the oven. I've never made meringues before, but I've been meaning to try for a while, and with an egg white left over from the biscuits, I thought - why not? The world's smallest batch of meringue ever made. Fingers crossed they come out well.

Bread successes

This week, I had a go at making bread more simply - used more water, warmed it up first, and added extra yeast and a few linseeds. It worked better! Felt more bread-like after kneading, and it actually rose!! I think there were definitely too many linseeds in the other loaf, and also not enough water, so somehow the magic couldn't take place.

Yay! for minor successes - do you think I can keep this up?

Bread failure

I had another shot at bread again today - not so successful. It entirely failed to rise, and is burnt on the top but uncooked in the middle. It's just about ok as toast, but my sandwiches will not be amazing this week.

Homemade bread sounds and smells so amazing, but sadly the final product is rarely as good as the smell foretells. I'm not quite sure what has gone wrong. Last week, I left the dough to rise on top of the oven, and I thought that was too hot and dried it out too quickly, so this week I added more moisture and left it to rise on the table. Nada.

Too many linseeds? Not enough sugar? Too much salt? Should I try adding more yeast? Next week, I plan to 'go back to basics' - make the very simplest dough imaginable, not adding extras like buttermilk and honey. Fingers crossed that will do the trick! I just hope that the oven isn't on the blink again...

Baking bread

I love baking bread. I love the feel of the dough in my fingers. It's much the same reason that, when I make a cake, I enjoy beating all the ingredients by hand - the world disappears for a few minutes, and I get to watch all the chemical changes in the batter.

Looking for alternatives

I'm actually feeling a little bit annoyed with myself - because yesterday, I had the opportunity to challenge myself to find an alternative to muffin cases. After all, there were cupcakes before cupcake cases (I presume, anyway!) When a friend made several very practical and frugal suggestions, including one I could have implemented without making any additional purchases, I felt a little bit ashamed that I didn't think of them. I guess I still have a way to go in thinking outside the box.

In many cases, this comes down to focusing on the result you want to achieve - preventing the cakes from sticking to the tray - rather than the tools the recipe tells you to use.

Well, thanks to my friend's suggestion, I will look carefully at muffin cases and at her suggested alternatives, and make a selection that balances practicality with frugality. I think I may go for baking parchment, which I can cut into squares and use. I think this will be more cost-effective than cases.

One good thing did come out of my search - I didn't find cases last night, but I did find affordable gelatine sheets, which I have seen in several recipes but been unable to find to date.

Holidays!

Ah. Half term. No classes. Such would be bliss enough. But no! There is more. For I have returned for a few days to the house of my parents. Who have an OVEN, ladies and gentleman, an actual functioning oven which can be used for baking. They also have - wait for it! - baking ingredients in the cupboard. Decent quality ones. Which I haven't paid for.

So, naturally, the list of thing To Do has been thoroughly ignored in favour of baking ginger biscuits. I am usually more of a cake person, but these are truly lovely biscuits. I can't believe I've never had a go at ginger biscuits before. Add to this copious amounts of tea made in an actual tea pot, some hot ginger drink for my cold, a good book and no inconsiderable amount of time listening to the robins chattering to one another outside, and you have a definitively Good Day (TM). This is now being polished with a bowl of homemade soup, after which I shall go into London to meet my mother and wander around a museum, before meeting the rest of the family for a birthday dinner.

Would someone please tell me how today could get any better? Oh yeah, that's right. I've got tomorrow to look forward to, as well. I hope you are enjoying February as much as I am!