Recipe 45 - 59: Sourdough

I have actually given up on the Sourdough chapter, I know that's awful and I really didn't want to but I can't give it the care and attention it needs! I mean, you have to feed it every few days and then when you finally come round to wanting to bake it – it's five hours rising and then eighteen hours to prove and then around 40 minutes to bake!

I really sound like I'm moaning but I'm just disappointed, I really didn't want to miss a recipe and with not doing this chapter I'm missing a whole 14 out! It's a shame as my Sourdough starter was actually quite good, I was very pleased! 

What I'm hoping to do is after I finished the rest of the book, which should take me up to around January / February time I hope, if I have a few free weekends then I might get round to baking some Sourdough but we're see how it goes!

So it's farewell to my dear friend 'Buddy the Sourdough' I hope I can give him the love and care he deserves one day! Haha but for now, I'm off to the wonderful world of pastry.

Recipe 44: Christmas Buns

The most wonderful time of year is almost upon us! The shops already have aisles of food, gift ideas and decorations in preparation! The countdowns have started on Facebook & Twitter and the Scrooges are loving that!

This made it the perfect time to turn over the page of the book and see the next recipe to bake – Christmas Buns! These scrumptious buns are much like Chelsea Buns but a few ingredients tweaked to add that festive taste!

To start with, I need to belt the butter and milk together making sure its only lukewarm and not too hot before putting it with the usual mix of ingredients of flour, salt and yeast. Time to mix the ingredients with my hands which was nice because it was so freezing, it kept my hands nice and cosy, haha! The mixture might be a bit on the soggy side, if so it's fine to add a little more flour.

Then it's time to knead the dough, it was much easier than usual probably due to being liquid in the mix and it smelt lovely! Like the previous recipe, the smell reminded me of a donut mixture. Then time to leave the dough to rise for an hour – I always leave mine for about an hour and a half though.

When the dough has doubled inside, I had to pour it carefully out the bowl and then roll it into a rectangle shape. After this melt some more butter and then brush over the dough, then add the dark brown sugar evenly over it.

The next layer is to add the dry apricots and cranberries evenly over the dough too! Roll it up into a tight swiss roll and cut it into nine pieces.

I was surprised to read that I only had to leave them to prove for just half an hour! Not that I'm complaining, it's great not have to wait around for hours but I wasn't worried they wouldn't fluff up enough! Of course, trust all the book tells you as it's always right, they did get bigger in size after just half an hour and then ready to go in the oven!

I feel like I usually over bake my bread so this time I promised I wouldn't and took them out just at the right time, even to me they looked a little on the pale side, as you can see on the picture below but they were perfectly baked, yay!

Then whilst they are still warm, I had to brush them over with some apricot jam to give them that lovely glazed shine on a bun!

The final stage was to leave them to completely cool, if not the icing will just melt in. Whilst this was happening, mix the icing sugar with a little lemon juice and then flicker all over the now cool buns – this part was really fun!!

Reviews? They looked visually delicious! According to everyone they also tasted great too!

So this is the end of the favoured bread chapter, I didn't get through it as quickly as I had hoped but that's another one down!

The next chapter is Sourdough – which is already proving to be difficult, most of the breads take 5 hours to rise and then need around 18 hours to prove, I've been trying to work out how I can get these time wise but it's proving to be a complete pain! I'm worried I won't make it through or it will take me years to complete! Fingers crossed I should be able to get 2 breads done this weekend, but we're see how it fits in with timings! 

Recipe 43: Apricot Couronne

This was a bit of a complicated one. Apricot Couronne is apparently a French Christmas treat, used at a family gathering or sometimes even as a gift in the festive season! It is also a little bit tricky to bake!

It all starts with the night before the bake, place the apricots in a bowl and pour the orange juice on top, this is for the filling of the bread.

It's a very small amount of dough to make, it only required like 250g of strong white flour. So along with the flour went the usual yeast and salt, also on top was unsalted butter, one egg and some warm milk. Then mix all together and I know this is random, but it smelt a bit like a donut recipe and looked like one too, with the kind of darker shade of dough.

One thing I liked about this recipe was that I didn't have to knead for as long as there wasn't as much as there usually is! The recipe recommended kneading for about 6 minutes and it worked out really nice and smooth. After this, leave to rise for an hour or so.

In the meantime, it's time to make a filling for the bread (sounds so odd, like I should be making a cake, not bread!) so I had to drain the orange juice from the apricots. Then cream butter and sugar together (see, very cake like!) and mix in the favours; apricots, raisins, walnut, orange zest and some plain flour.

After the dough has risen, I had to carefully tip it from the bowl so I didn't have to knock the air out and then roll it into a rectangle. Once this is done, I had to spread the mixture evenly across the dough. I then had to roll the marzipan thinly and place over the mixture. So it was the dough, apricot mixture and then marzipan all layered on each other. This then had to be rolled up like a swiss roll.

This next part was a little different! Now the dough is in it's roll, leaving it intact at the top, you then have to slice it all the way down. It pretty much looks like a pair of legs. Then twirl the dough length ways and join the ends so it ends as a circle. Then leave to prove for an hour.

After the dough has proved and it springs back if you give it a light poke, it's time to bake for 25 minutes until it's a nice golden colour!

While the Couronne is cooling on the wire rack, I made the glaze for the top. I warmed the apricot blaze with a little water and brushed over the top of the warm bake, this was much like the hot cross buns. After that, I dribbled over some very thinly made icing sugar and then scattered the almonds on top. Finished!

I think there are a lot of things I could of done differently with this one, I think the main issue I had was the shape, I think I over twirled, it didn't need that much and was falling apart by the time I was transferring, etc. If I bake this again, will keep it smaller and then I think this will impact the favour more as this time, when it was amazing, all the marzipan was pouring about, looking more like melted cheese!

 Reviews? Everyone loved it, which I'm surprised by. I thought mine came out very deflated looking and worried it was under baked but my critics tell me differently!

The next recipe is the last of the favoured bread section and then it is onto Sourdough Breads! My starter dough is already in the making!

Recipe 42: Hot Cross Buns

I know I said that the last recipe was nice and traditional but this one is more so! I was so excited to bake these, I've always wanted too but they always seemed more complicated than they actually are so when this one came up in the book, I had no excuse to hide from it!

Like all the recipes, it started with the usual of mixing of ingredients and a few extras on top, such as sugar, egg and milk. Mix until a rough dough has formed and then it's time to knead! I think it is easier to need when there is a bit more added extras in the recipe, not sure if that's just my weirdness though! Once kneaded, it's time to leave to rise for an hour or more, depending what you are up too!

Once it has risen, time to tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and scatter all the lovely ingredients that give it that traditional favour! Which includes sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest, apple and cinnamon. So a lot more favour than usually put into a hot cross bun but this definitely the way forward! Unlike the last recipe, after kneading the dried fruits in, it has to be left to rise again.

When the dough has risen for a second time, it's that heartbreaking moment again when you have to knock it back down to size! Then divide the dough into 12 equal pieces (either by guessing or measuring) and roll into balls and place closely on a baking tray. Then once again, leave them for yet another hour, the last time!!

In the meantime, it's time to make the mixture that makes that famous cross! All it is plain flour and water mixed together into a paste, as easy as that! Then place into a piping bag, to be fair if you haven't got a piping bag then a normal food bag will do, just cut a corner and it's the same thing really. Then all you have to do, go across one row horizontal and the other vertical and I have to say, it's really fun! I think the first bun had a little extra dribble on it but hey, it was my first try!

Finally time to bake these beauties in the oven for 20 minutes and the house smelt lovely! When they come out, they are such a dull looking bun, so now the final stage was to add glimmer! Brush the top of the warm buns with apricot jam and leave to cool.

Reviews? I think these were my parents favourite bake so far, I think my Dad ate most of them, he even had them for his lunch one day! By the time next Easter comes, I think I will be made to make these again!

I'm excited for the next recipe, it's very different and involves marzipan, I should be making it in the next week so watch this space! After that, just one more recipe in this chapter and then onto Sourdough (I'm a little scared!).

Recipe 41: Tea Cakes

Tea cakes, another nice traditional treat to bake!

It begins with the usual mixing of ingredients (with hands, no mixer!), the only difference in the mix is add some cinnamon to give it that extra favour!

Start the kneading the process and carry on for 10 minutes, if you have strong arms then you probably don't need to do it for that long but I always do the full 10 minutes, probably wouldn't hurt the dough if I did it for longer! Then place in a lightly oiled bowl and leave it to rise!

When the dough is ready, it's then time to add the mixed peel and sultanas and knead it in! But this time, it doesn't need to be left to rise again, instead it's already time to divide the mixture into 8 equal pieces.

Firstly, I had to shape them into a ball and then using a rolling pin, flatten each piece of dough out and brush a beaten egg over the top of them to give them that glazed finish!

Then it's time to leave to to rise again, to make sure they have that nice fluffy finish! After an hour or so, time to bake into oven for around 15 minutes, till they have that nice golden look!

The tea cakes were much bigger than I expected, I mean when you see them in the shops, they look about scone size but these were like massive buns hence why I only got 8 out of the mixture! As recommended in the book, my family had them toasted and they went down really well!

Reviews? Both bakes were successful today, it was half and half with what the family preferred. AJ liked these better than the next recipe (which everyone else liked better) but they all still got eaten anyway!