Sun-dried Tomato and Parmesan Biscuits

Now that the Great British Bake Off has finished Mary Berry & Paul Hollywood have released three episodes of "masterclasses" - where they show us how they'd have done the bakes.

The first episode featured these sun-dried tomato and parmesan biscuits and I have to say the minute I heard "sun-dried tomato" I was sold. Although I'm not a fan of regular tomatoes I find their dried, acidic and intensely flavoured sun-dried cousins irresistible.

I was pleased to find I could pick up the rather obscure sun-dried tomato paste in Waitrose. It's not my usual supermarket but they have such a fantastic range of ingredients that I have to pop by occasionally when I'm looking for a little something extra to add to my baking. I was disappointed to discover that if you're a MyWaitrose card holder you can get 50% off some of their baking range - great if you have a card...not so great if you don't and temporary cards aren't issued instore any more.

Ingredients: 
187g/6.5oz plain flour
2 eggs
0.5 tsp salt
62.5g/2.25oz unsalted butter, softened
40ml cold water
40g/1.5oz grated parmesan
1 tablespoon sun-dried tomato paste

Method:
1. Beat the flour, one egg, salt, butter and water together in a mixer for around 5 minutes, until a soft dough is formed.

2. Add in the parmesan and sun-dried tomato paste and mix until combined.

3. Put dough on a lightly floured surface, roll out until 3mm thick and then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Pre heat oven to 200c.

4. Cut out using a cutter and place on a lightly floured baking tray. Beat the remaining egg and gently apply an egg wash. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden.

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Genoise Layer Cake - Attempt 1: FAIL!

I've been meaning for a while to bake my way through all the types of sponge cake, meringue and pastry. I thought this would be a perfect way to test all the skills I've gained baking over the last decade or so. So today I finally got round to my first bake.

The first type of cake I've decided to make is a Genoise. It's a very delicate sponge which is made my whisking the entire egg, this is different to something like an angel cake where only the egg white is used.

I've read lots of recipes and some say to beat the eggs and sugar over a saucepan and some just say to whisk and whisk and whisk. However, knowing that warmer eggs produce more volume when whisked I decided to go down the less-faff route of simply popping the eggs into a bowl of quite warm water for 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 6 medium eggs, warmed for 5 minutes in a bowl of warm water
• 130g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 75g butter, melted
• 130g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Line, grease and lightly flour two cake tins.
2. Break the eggs into the bowl of your Kitchenaid, add the sugar and vanilla. Beat on high speed for 10 minutes until trebled in volume. If using a hand mixer this may take 15 minutes.
   
   
   

   

   Note the trail across the top this is called a 'ribbon'.

   
   
3. Whilst the eggs are being whisked melt the butter in a microwave and set aside to cool.
4. Mix together the plain flour and salt in a small bowl. 
5. Once eggs are beaten pour into a larger bowl. Sift a third of the flour mixture into the bowl and fold in with a spatula being careful not to knock all of the air out. Add another third, fold in, then repeat with the last third.
   
6. Take a small amount of mixture and mix it in with the melted butter. Pour the butter mixture back into the large bowl and fold in carefully again. 
   
7. Split the mixture between the two cake tins and bake in the over for around 20 minutes.

I removed the cakes from the oven and notices they hadn't risen much. I gave the five minutes to begin to cool down before removing them from their tins. When removing them I noticed they felt quite heavy - much to my horror. Oh well, I thought, I can probably salvage it somehow. Sadly not - they were like hard, rubbery discs!

I've turned to the internet for a bit of help and it would appear that it could have been a couple of things. 1 - I may have not mixed enough of the mixture into the butter before returning it to the bowl or 2 - I simply just didn't mix through the ingredients enough. Of course I'm not going to give up there, I'm determined to nail this recipe. I just thought it would make a refreshing change to talk about a baking disaster rather than a success for once!

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Iced Finger Buns

Iced fingers are a classic British treat and you'll always find them stocked in the high street bakery. Sometimes this soft bun will be filled with whipped cream and jam and other times there is just a drizzle of icing over the top either way it's a satisfying treat.

This, again, is another Paul Hollywood recipe. He seems to be the miracle worker with yeasted doughs so when his recipe came at the top of the search results I knew I could trust the recipe to work and as always I wasn't let down.

Ingredients:
Buns:
250g strong plain bread flour
25g caster sugar
20g unsalted butter
1 egg
7g sachet of instant yeast
1 tsp salt
75ml warm milk
70ml water

Icing:
100g icing sugar
2.5 tsps cold water

1. Put all the ingredients for the buns in a large bowl, but hold back around half to a quarter of the water. Using your hands begin to form a dough - if required add more water.
   
2. Once a dough has formed knead in the bowl for 4-5 minutes before turning out onto a lightly floured surface and kneading for a further 10 minutes.
   
3. Once smooth and elastic place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to raise for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.
   
4. Once risen divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. You can use a scale to weigh the dough and divide by 6 to ensure regular shape.Form each piece into a bowl and then roll with the palms of your hands into sausage shapes of equal length.
   
5. Place the dough onto a baking rack, ensuring there is space for them to double in size. Cover with cling film again and leave to rise until doubled in size. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 220c/Gas Mark 7.
   
6. Once risen remove the cling film and bake in the over for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool.
   
7. Mix together the icing sugar and water to form a thick icing. Dip the buns in the icing and use the back of a spoon to even the icing out. 
   

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Cheese and Bacon Oval Loaves

Bread is one of my favourite types of baking, in fact any yeast based bake is. Slightly inspired by the Great British Bake Off's bread week I turned to Paul Hollywood's 'How to Bake' book. With the weather being slightly grim a good comforting loaf was in order and there aren't many things more comforting than warm cheesey, bacon bread. Definitely best eaten when warm.

Ingredients:

• 400g strong white bread flour
• 100g rye bread (the original calls for strong wholemeal flour)
• 10g salt
• 10g instant yeast
• 30g unsalted butter
• 330ml water
• 8 rashers of bacon, cooked and chopped
• 150g cheddar cheese

1. Put the flour, salt, yeast and butter in a bowl. Make sure the salt and yeast are at opposite sides of the bowl. Mix the butter in with your fingers.
   
2. Put the bowl on the stand mixer and begin to add the water, keep adding until a rough dough is formed. Knead for another 5-10 minutes.
   
3. When the ball forms a smooth skin pop it into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to raise for around an hour until it doubles.
   
4. Once the dough has risen begin to knead in the cheddar and bacon. Don't knead for too long.
   
   
   
5. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and form oval loaves and place onto two baking sheets. Cover with more cling film and leave to rise again. Pre heat the oven to 200c.
   
6. Once risen and the oven is up to temperature sprinkle the loaves with olive oil and bake for around 20 minutes. Tap on the bottom to ensure a hollow a sound.
   
   

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Ooey Gooey Chocolate Fondant

I was lucky enough to be bought some Paul A Young chocolate by my Dad last week. It's rated as some of the best chocolate in the country so I wanted to do something pretty special with it. Really there was only one thing that I wanted; an ooey gooey chocolate fondant.

Ingredients:
50g chocolate (dark is best but I used milk here to make it almost like a sticky toffee pudding sauce)
50g unsalted butter, plus extra to grease
50g plain flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk
60g caster sugar
2tbsp cocoa powder

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 160c. Butter two ramekins and then dust lightly with cocoa powder.
   
   
   
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl over the top of a saucepan, make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Put aside the bowl to cool. 
   
3. In a stand mixer whisk together the egg, egg yolk and sugar.
   
   
   
4. Mix in the cooled chocolate mixture and then sift the flour on top. Slowly fold in using a figure of 8 motion.
   
5. Pour the mixture into the two ramekins and bake for around 15-17 minutes. You want there to be some cracks on top but not overcooked. 
   

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British Pancakes

The title of this post may be a little misleading, I'm not making Union Jack pancakes or anything of the red, blue and white theme. Instead I am making what most of us class as pancakes, unlike the American Pancakes our are unleavened and look more like a crepe.

What's pretty clever about this recipe is that it can make either pancakes or Yorkshire puddings, all that matter is the method of cooking! I've been using the same recipe by the legendary Delia Smith for years and it comes out perfect every time so have no need to change it.

Ingredients:

• 110g plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 200ml milk + 75ml water
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter

Method:

1. Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl.
2. Crack the eggs into the bowl and using a fork slowly mix into the flour.
   
3. Slowly add the milk and use an electric mixer to beat the lumps out.
4. Scrape down the bowl and add the melted butter and mix. Pour into a measuring jug to make it easier to pour into the pancake pan.
   
5. Heat your pancake pan up on a high heat before reducing to a medium heat. Pour the mixture into the pan, make sure you don't do it too thick, and tilt the pan around to cover the whole area - you'll need to work quick!
   
6. After about 30-45 seconds it'll be ready to flip. You can use a spatula or if you're feeling brave toss it up in the air and catch it again. Give it another 30 seconds before sliding onto a plate and serving!
   

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Beetroot Brownies

Now, I'm not a huge fan of beetroot so why I decided to grow it in the garden I'm not quite sure. However, here we are at harvest time and I've got more beetroot than I need and I want my land back to begin planting new crops. Instead of pickling it all I decided to go on a bit of a hunt for something else to do with it all...I ended up finding this Beetroot Brownie recipe on BBC Good Food.

Given that it had mixed reviews I decided to half the mixture - I didn't want to use my entire patch of beetroot in one go! I have to say although they are slightly different I find them pretty tasty, especially considering they contain much less fat than your average brownie.

Ingredients:

• 200g of uncooked beetroot (after being peeled)
• 50g unsalted butter, cubed
• 100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 small eggs
• 50g flour
• 15g cocoa powder

Method:

1. If required, peel your beetroot. Preheat your oven to 180c.

   

   Fresh from the garden!
2. Chop the beetroot into smallish chunks and place into a microwaveable bowl. Add a small amount of water, about a teaspoon, cover it in cling film and zap it in the microwave for about 10 minutes. It should be tender, drain it in a sieve.
   
3. Add the chocolate and butter to the bowl of a food processor. Add the beetroot to the ingredients and whizz away. The heat from the beetroot should melt the butter and chocolate. Keep on whizzing until it's as smooth as possible.

   

   Looks yummy (?!)

4. In another bowl use an electric whisk to combine the sugar and eggs, you want it nice and foamy so do it for a few minutes. 
5. Add the beetroot mix to the egg mixture and gently fold it in using a figure of eight motion.
   
6. Finally sieve in the flour and cocoa powder and fold in before pouring into your greased tin.
   
7. Cook for around 20 minutes, check on it after 15, until it has a thin crust but still has a hint of a wobble in it.
   
8. Leave to cool in the tray before cutting and serving.

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