Recipe 36: Pecan and Stilton Twist

I didn't get many pictures of this one as this was part of my marathon bread making weekend and lost track of sometimes of what I had and hadn't done!

I'm going to quickly go through this one as it is very similar to the others. It begins with the usual mixing and kneading, it didn't rise as much as usual but then I only left it just over an hour.

So, once it has risen, you put the pecan and Stilton and mix it into the bread, not knead into the bread like it has said for some of the others. And once this is done, time to knock the air out and divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and roll them out into roughly 30cm pieces.

In the book, it made it sound like you had to tab both pieces on one side, lift it up and twirl in round until it was in a twist. So that's what I did! It was so awkward holding it up and trying to twist it but now as I type it, it sounds so stupid that I did it this way and I'm starting to think maybe I wasn't meant to twist it in the air, oh dear...

But it doesn't look too bad for being twisted in the air, does it? Again, this is another one of the breads I over proved as you can probably tell from the pictures which is a shame because it would have looked amazing after being baked, etc. In the end though, it looked a little flat and this happens with one of the other breads too, boo!

Reviews? AJ is the only one to have tried this one and I think she liked it the best out of all the 5 breads I did over the weekend so that's something! The only thing I worry about bread with cheese in, it makes it look doughy and not cooked even though it is, if that makes sense?

Recipe 35: Cheddar and Apple Bread

Like the other recipes, it starts with the usual mixing of the ingredients by hand and the kneading for a good old 10 minutes, no less but probably a bit longer if you can! And then of course, leaving the dough to rise.

It was lucky as I managed to leave this for just over 3 hours, I was worried it would start to shrink back down but I got home just in time!

Once it is ready, I poured the dough carefully out onto the floured surface and shaped it out into a rough rectangle which was fun, kinda of like popping bubble wrap!

Then keep patting it out until it's a even bigger rectangle and flatten a bit with your hands too! With the grated cheese and the chopped dessert apples onto one side of the dough and then fold the other piece of dough over the top and then stick the down the edges.

The hardest part was then transferring this beast of dough from the counter to the baking tray. Lucky my tray didn't have raised edges so easier then having to lift it, if not it would of split! But either way, still a nightmare, my dough scraper was the only thing holding it all together!

So finally on the tray, time to leave to prove!

This piece of dough, like I said was a beast! It looks a lot smaller in the book so not sure if mine was over sized but I was still pleased with it! So just before putting it in the oven to bake, sprinkle some flour and then it tells you to make thumb prints all over the dough – it was so bouncy!

Then leave to bake for 30 minutes, I think I over baked mine, the cheese looks like it could have been a bit more runny in the middle but then I'm not sure that's where it's cooled?! This bread baking can be a hard one to tell sometimes!

Reviews? My mum took some into work with her and they seemed to like it! AJ said she wasn't keen but I guess the favours just don't work for everyone!

Recipe 34: Cheddar and Bacon Loaves

Okay, so this weekend I have managed to bake 5 different breads which is good as I was running behind as I didn't do any last weekend and I can't do any Bank Holiday weekend either – kinda good to catch up and do as many as I could!

Cheddar and Bacon Loaves, another one I was very excited to bake! They are both favours that a lot of people like and go well together so I had a lot of people wanting to try this one too!

It started with the usual mixing of the ingredients with my hands, still love this bit! Then going onto kneading, which isn't too much of a problem now really! I still worry that I've never done it good enough but it's getting much more easier on my arms, maybe I have some muscle there at last!

Then I left it to rise, I think it was around 2 hours so in the meantime I cooked 8 rashes of bacon until they were tender, not cooked properly as it will go in the oven too - then of course chop roughly. I also grated all the cheese ready.

So because I didn't leave the dough as long as usual (recently) it doesn't look as big but as long as its doubled in size, it shouldn't be a problem! Nice and airy still!

Once you pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, time to knead the cheese and bacon, this kinda knocks the air out at the same time. So I kneaded for a little while until the ingredients were well distributed. This was fun!

Then cut into four equal pieces and shape into an oval shape. One of them obviously one was not as equal as the others as you can tell from the pictures! Then once shaped, place them on the tray and slash them deeply and a dust of flour and leave them to prove.

 I left them to prove for ages, perhaps for too long I think. I had to go out and get shoes for a wedding (I did get some, yay) and this ended up effecting some of the other breads too unfortunately.

I had to wait a little while longer for the oven to become free and then baked for 20 minutes as soon as available!

The picture above makes the dough look soggy but it really isn't, just where the cheese has melted in! 

Reviews? It went down a treat! They were nice, I'm not a fan of cheese but even I enjoyed them. Alice had one for her dinner pretty much and everyone else that had one seemed to really like them! I think I will be doing these again! 

Recipe 33: Cherry Tomato and Mozzarella Breads

So I didn't get to bake last weekend but for a very good reason – we were in Disneyland Paris to celebrate Alice's 25^th Birthday! It was amazing as always! As always the main mouse steals the show! Love this picture :)

Anyway, back the baking!

It starts with the usual ingredients, with a lot of tepid water too! As it is a very wet dough it says to use your mixer with a dough hook and as you may know (or may not!) I only have a hand mixer and the last few times I used it, I've nearly broken it so this time I decided to use my dough scraper and mix it by this for 8 minutes, which was a little tougher – worse than kneading but I suppose it's kinda the same thing in the end!

After this, I had to place it into a square container to rise for an hour. I left it over an hour to give it a little more rise time and it rose well considering I used the dough scraper to mix it!

This is a quick bread to make, so you then tip the dough onto a heavily floured surface very carefully so not all of the air escape! Cut the dough into half and then into half again and you have four pieces!

Stretch the dough and and then this was a fun part (well I thought it was fun) stuffing the tomatoes on the dough and then placing the mozzarella around the tomatoes and then a little sprinkle of oregano and a splash of olive oil on each bread and leave them to rest for 15 minutes.

And not a long wait at all and the bread is ready to do in! It says 15 – 20 minutes, I think I left it in for the 20 minutes because where all the cheese and tomato was it looked a little soggy and I was worried the dough underneath wasn't baked. But I was wrong, they were baked perfectly after all, just the cheese making me worry!

Reviews? Everyone liked them, I do think my dough is improving, of course it's still not perfect but it's getting better! Alice liked the bake, she said 'It tastes just like pizza man!' her exact words.

I'm looking forward to the next bake which involves bacon – I was going to do it this weekend but for the first time every – we had no bacon in our house, typical! That will have to be done next week now!

Oh - 90 recipes to go!