Under cover bread baking attempt

This weekend I tried something a little different.  I used my standard loaf recipe and instead of cooking it in a hot oven or hot container, I put it in a cold oven and then turned the heat on.  It took longer to cook, but it  rose incredibly well and I ended up with a much lighter loaf than normal.

Ingredients:

Strong white flour 400g
Wholemeal flour 100g
Water 300ml
Olive oil 1 tbsp
Salt 1 dessertspoon
Dried yeast 1 dessertspoon

Knead it in the usual way and leaf to proof covered for 1-2 hours.  Knock back down and shape into a ball.  I let this rise in a floured banneton for 30 minutes, then tipped it gently onto the base of the cloche, upon which I had sprinkled some polenta.  If the receptacle is hot you don't need polenta, but for this method the dough would stick.  I put the dome on, let it sit for about 10 minutes, then put it in a cold oven.  Then turn the oven on at 230C for 45 minutes.  The dough rises further within its container, protected from the heat initially both due to the cover and the fact the oven starts off cold.  Take the dome off at 45 minutes, then leave for 20 minutes.

What I managed to produce was a loaf at least twice the size of previous efforts, and nice and light - very happy with this method.

Hot Cross Buns

Easter is almost here, and although I usually make hot cross buns during Easter, this year I will be travelling.  I'm making them this week instead, as they've become a bit of a ritual and they taste so nice I don't want to miss out.  Hot cross buns appear in Australian supermarkets straight after Christmas, which is ridiculous.  By the time Easter arrives I'm surprised people aren't sick of them.  The home made ones are much nicer than factory made ones.

Ingredients


500g flour
15g dried yeast
125g dried blackcurrants
1 tsp salt
60g brown sugar
60g butter
2 tsp mixed spice
2 eggs
280ml milk

Paste for the crosses


1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup water

Glaze

2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp castor sugar

Warm the milk slightly to room temperature.  Mix flour, salt, yeast and mixed spice together.  Make a well in the centre, add milk, eggs and softened butter and mix by hand.  Add the currants and mix them in.  Leave to rise for about 2 hours, covered, in a warm place.  Knock the dough down, knead briefly and shape into 12-16 round buns.  Place on a non-stick oven tray, or a greased tray, and leave covered for 45-10 minutes until they double in size.

For the crosses, mix water and flour into a smooth paste and pipe onto surface of buns when they have risen.

Bake in oven at 200 C for 15-20 minutes.

Just before they are ready to leave the oven, heat the sugar and milk in a small saucepan and boil until thick and syrupy.  Take the buns out of the oven and immediately brush the top of each bun with the syrup, and then brush them each again a second time.  Leave to cool.

Mixed spice


As I only seem to use a jar of this at Christmas and Easter, the spice will probably have gone stale if you have some hidden in the cupboard.  Buy a fresh jar, or you can make your own by mixing these together:

2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cassia
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp green cardamom seeds

Hot cross buns, and most other spiced fruit buns are an English tradition dating from Tudor times.  They were only allowed to be made and sold on special occasions, decreed by the crown.  This eventually lapsed and they became very popular, but now seem to have reverted to the special occasion of Easter.

Pumpkin scones

Pumpkin scones are are a Queensland tradition.  I don't think I thought of them as anything other than a joke before I came to live here.  I had certainly never seen any before.  I remember going to a morning tea at work and there they were - pumpkin scones.  They were much nicer than I thought they would be, and I'm making some for our Japan earthquake fundraiser tomorrow.

They are a bit different from normal scones.  My grandmother made superb scones, in fact both grandmothers did, except that the penny-pinching one served them with the cheapest possible margarine she could find.  Yuck!  My other grandmother made scones when she was near the end of a 300ml bottle of cream.  She would rinse it out with milk, and use that.  She barely mixed it with the flour until it just came together, and no more, otherwise they were overworked and wouldn't rise.  She also patted out the dough very lightly and didn't roll it.

This pumpkin scone recipe is from Stephanie Alexander.

Ingredients:

250g pumpkin in large chunks
300g self raising flour
pinch of salt
20g butter
1 beaten egg
Milk

Stephanie says to steam the pumpkin, but I've had better results baking the chunks in the oven at 180 C until they're soft, about 45 minutes.  I've tried steaming them but they make the scone mix too wet.  I suppose you could always microwave them too.  Let them cook, and then puree them.

Sift the flour and salt, rub in the butter and then the pumpkin puree.  Be warned, it's a sticky mess!  Don't rub or compress too violently, just try to amalgamate as gently as possible.  Add the beaten egg and mix to a soft dough.  It will be very soft and sticky.  If for some reason it's too dry, add up to 1/4 cup of milk, but I have never had to use any milk at all.  Tip onto a floured surface, sprinkle with more flour and pat into a square shape.  Cut into scone sized portions and brush the tops with milk.  Cook in oven for 15-20 minutes at 200 C until golden.  I had to turn the trays around in the last 5 minutes because the ones at the back cooked more quickly.

Serve with BUTTER!

Chocolate cupcakes for Max's 16th birthday

I had a lot of positive comments about my recent cupcake effort, so I thought I would try another version.  This time, chocolate cupcakes - just to be healthy.  I'll take most of them into work, but the main reason I am cooking them is because Max, our dog, turns 16 today and one of these will be his birthday cake.

Ingredients


100g dark chocolate
250ml water
125g Danish unsalted butter
255g brown sugar
3 eggs
225g self raising flour
75g white flour (cake flour)
30g cocoa

300g dark chocolate
300g creme fraiche or sour cream

This makes 18 cakes.

Preheat oven to 160 C.  Use 2 paper cupcake cases per cake.

Melt chocolate and water in a saucepan over low heat, stirring for 5 minutes until smooth.  Leave to cool.
Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer until fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, until just incorporated.  Add the sifted flours and cocoa and stir until just combined.  Add the cooled chocolate and mix until combined.  Spoon the mixture evenly between 18 cupcake cases.  Bake for 20 minutes then set on a wire rack to cool.

For the frosting, place the creme fraiche and chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.  Melt and stir for 5 minutes until smooth and shiny.  Let it cool and thicken then spread over each cooled cake.

Here is a video of Max eating it.  Somehow I don't think these will be light and fluffy, as he nearly choked halfway through it.

Pumpkin bread

It's been a while since I've made anything new.  I had to work last weekend, so no time for experiments.  Today I'm attempting to make pumpkin bread, which is completely my own recipe, so if it fails I have no-one to blame but myself.

I am interested in additions to bread, such as rice, potato - and today, pumpkin.  Pumpkin scones are a traditional Queensland snack, and although I have seen some recipes for pumpkin bread, they are for sweeter and more cake-like products.  Pumpkin used to make me dry-retch when I was a child (along with peas), and I still find it hard to deal with a large amount of steamed, boiled or mashed pumpkin on a plate.  Yuk.  The flavour and colour is very pleasant when used sparingly, but too intense for me in large amounts.  I quite like roasted pumpkin, but on the whole I think I'd rather eat sweet potato as a vegetable.  Only a small amount of pumpkin is needed for this recipe so I'm using the rest to put in a lamb tagine.

Ingredients


450g strong white flour
100g wholemeal flour
120g steamed or boiled pumpkin, mashed and cooled
150ml water
150ml milk
1 dessertspoon dried yeast
1 dessertspoon salt
Pumpkin seeds for the top

Mix everything except the seeds together and knead for 10 minutes.  Let rise until doubled in size, an hour or more if needed.  Knock down and shape into a round loaf.  Let this rise on a tray scattered with polenta, cover and leave for 30-45 minutes.  Scatter the top with pumpkin seeds.  Pre-heat oven to 230 C and cook for 30-40 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base.

I'm going to cook mine under cover, 30 minutes with the lid on and then 20 with the lid off.

It spread out more than I expected, but it looks good and hopefully will taste good too.  Perhaps I would have been better cooking it in a bread tin.