Jewish Cholla Loaf

Inspired by a drink with a friend who had recently been to a large Jewish wedding at The Savoy no less, he mentioned this loaf and I remembered there was a recipe for it in Paul Hollywood's book.

It had been on my list to bake for a while so here it is. It was quite an easy dough to work with, just make sure you don't make it too soggy, so you may not need to add all the suggested water. The milk ands eggs provide the extra moisture. It's also a good one to try to practice plaiting the dough once it has proved.

It tastes as good as it looks, you could make quite a decadent sandwich with it or just eat it as it is!

Banana and Muesli Loaf

For all you amateur bakers out there, make sure you check out www.bakerybits.co.uk I have just received a few bits and pieces for my birthday and it's a great site. I thought I'd put my new large banneton to good use and my super sharp grignette (razor blade to slash your loaf before baking).

Remember that when you use a banneton, although it makes a professional looking finish, the bread doesn't rise as tall as it would do normally. It can also be tricky to roll out of the basket and onto the baking stone without losing some of that delicate rise you have spent the last few hours achieving.

I have persevered with sour dough, so this Banana and Muesli loaf was great toast for breakfast. Although I think my starter dough is dead :(

The King of Breads

Ever since I began bread making, I have been working towards this moment. Whenever I read about making bread or watched the professionals on TV, they all agreed that sour dough was indeed the king of breads.

For those of you not familiar with sour dough. A very quick guide. Normal bread is made with yeast as the rising agent, sour dough is made using a 'starter' dough which uses no yeast whatsoever. The starter is a mixture of flour and water, which when left alone for a few weeks, starts to ferment and this mixture is added to your standard bread recipe to act as the rising agent. It also takes much longer to rest and prove, this loaf took about 15 hours. Some bakers have starters that are years old. It also helps to have an understanding partner who doesn't mind having breads at various stages of life in the airing cupboard for hours on end!

The result is a much more flavoursome loaf. The texture is also much more springy, almost like a ciabatta. So for my first attempt, I am pretty chuffed.

Easter Hot Cross Buns

I thought it was time to try some sweet dough. The principles are the same though, but the dough is enriched with milk, eggs and sugar. The dough is a bit wetter than a standard white dough, so you need to persevere when you are kneading it as at first it seems like it'll never firm up.

What I liked about this recipe is the addition of orange zest, an apple and a good dose of cinnamon, probably my favourite spice in the cupboard. At the time of writing, I hadn't tried one yet as we are waiting for breakfast but if they taste as good as they look, I think we are onto a winner.

Bacon and Cheddar Loaf

Now my young daughter Phoebe is approaching her first birthday, she is starting to eat a lot of the same foods as her mum and dad, and that includes bread. So, each weekend Phoebe gets her very own plain loaf baked by her Dad. I am hoping she will grow to enjoy baking as much as I do. So, once Phoebe's loaf is sorted, it's time to bake something for Mum and Dad.

The pictures of this bacon and cheddar loaf in Paul Hollywoods book were so good, that was enough for me to give it a go. The final bake didn't dissappoint. Make sure you eat this slightly warm as you then get pockets of cheesy goodness dotted throughout the loaf. Also, use a good strong vintage cheddar if you can. Delicious.

Cottage Loaf

I thought this looked good in Paul Hollywood's book, so thought I would give it a go. It turned out to be one of the softest and lightest breads I have made.

I have now discovered that the longer you can leave the dough to rest initially (up to 3 hours), the better the bread will be. For anyone who thinks they don't have the time to bake bread, I urge you to think again. Most of the time is not actually spent working with the dough, but leaving the dough to rest and prove. So you can go out for a few hours and come back to it. Plus if I can do it with a 9 month old baby causing havoc all around me, anyone can do it!

Chocolate chip shortbread

To me, shortbread has always been a bit of an enigma. I had assumed it was a real devil to make but it turns out that with a bit of care, its possible to turn out absolutely delicious examples. I turned to my new best friend, Paul Hollywood, for a good recipe but made the addition of chocolate chips. You just need to add these towards the end of the kneading process.

My only advice would be to work quite quickly with the dough as the butter will start to melt and can become a bit greasy. Otherwise, give them a go!

Milky Milky

It has been far too long since my last post. I have still been bust baking most weeks but tended to stick with tried and tested recipes. I thought I would try another milk dough from Paul Hollywood's new book. The milk adds a lovely sweetness to the loaf and is great for mopping up sauces. But I think it's a pretty versatile bread, would be good for most things.

If you try this one, the dough is quite tough at first so you really need to give it a bit of welly with your kneading. I also give it at least 2 hours for the initial resting stage, this gives it enough time to rise sufficiently. Enjoy.

Armenian Flat Breads

These have intrigued me ever since seeing them on the Great British Bake Off, so I thought I would try this variation from Emmanuel Hadjiandreou' book 'How to make Bread'.

It was a very simple dough to make. This is a flat bread designed to be very thin and crispy and therefore doesn't require any yeast. The olive oil gives the dough a smooth, shiny look. The only tricky bit was stretching the dough without it breaking, as you need it to be as thin as possible, but to be honest it didn't make any difference to the end result.(Tip: rub your hands with olive oil before stretching the dough as it makes it a little easier to work with)

We ate this with a G&T pre dinner, all very sophisticated! They were delicious, these ones had poppy and sesame seeds on top, I think the next batch I'll try with Parmesan.

Aussie Damper Bread

When I saw Lorraine Pascale prepare this loaf, I immediately thought of one of my trips to Australia where I spent a few nights sleeping under the stars at Uluru (Ayers Rock). I was taught how to make this bread by my guide as it is one of the simplest loaves to make and requires little preparation.

At the campsite, we mixed up the dough and placed it in an earthy pot with a lid and then buried the pot in the ground amongst some of the hot coals from the fire. About 45 mins later we had a delicious loaf. If I remember rightly, at the time of eating, a sandstorm swept through the camp and we ended up with a very sandy BBQ but you get the drift.

Hopefully if you give this a go at home, you won't have to contend with sand, but its a great place to start if you are keen to bake but unsure where to start. The recipe uses self raising flour, so no need for yeast and also doesn't require time to rise and prove. Lorraine suggests it's a good dipping bread in olive oil and a nice fruity balsamic - who am I to disagree. Give it a go.

Cobtastic

This is probably the best looking loaf I have made...tasted good as well. A trusted recipe from Paul Hollywood.

Spanish Rolls

Sometimes you want to just keep it simple. So these simple rolls made with plenty of olive oil hit the mark for a saturday lunch.

Pudding Club - White Hart, Cuckfield

It's the morning after the night before and I think we can safely say the inaugural Pudding Club was a roaring success. All entrants did themselves proud and produced some seriously delicious puddings.

Those present were;

Alfred - who produced a sublime Lemon Tart, which wouldn't have looked out of place in the finest patisserie. The highlight was undoubtedly the home made pastry. Judges comments included "WOW!", "Great pastry" and "very lemony".

Ben - Ben stuck to a real crowd pleaser with his White Chocolate and Raspberry cheesecake. Despite warm temperatures in the pub which threatened to melt the cheesecake, the dessert was awarded first place by the independent panel of judges. This dessert also probably won the most calorific content.

Simon - Despite stating he hadn't made a pudding in years, Simon produced a memorable Butterscotch and banana trifle with Madeira. I loved the boozy hit of the Madeira and the great texture of the sponge fingers. I think the rest of the pub enjoyed this one in particular.

Doug - At first glance, the simple tupperware box placed on the pub table didn't look that promising. But by the end of the evening, Doug's moist and fruity Bread Pudding was the only one that was completely polished off. Delicious. I'd like the recipe please.

A special mention must go to Andy who joined us for a pint after a week of very little sleep. Good effort!

And here are the photos to enjoy...onwards to Burgess Hill!

Rustic Spanish Loaf

I am a big fan of Spain and all things Spanish. It stems from childhood holidays spent camping on the Costa Brava amidst pine trees that clad the rugged coastline. I then spent a life changing year studying in Granada and ever since then, I have taken every opportunity to enjoy the Spanish way of doing things. They seem to have a great work/life balance and take great pleasure in the simple things in life such as great food and drink. Although it has recently become apparent that they probably enjoyed themselves a bit too much and should have taken more care of their finances!

Which leads me onto this bread which uses a 'starter' dough in the mix which you prepare the day before. This gives the bread a wonderful flavour, much like a soughdough. Don't be put off thinking that this all seems like a lot of faff, having to prepare dough the day before. It's really very simple and doesn't take much time. Bread making is the kind of hobby you can fit around your lifestyle...even when you have a 10 week old baby in the house!

Anyway, I have just enjoyed this loaf for saturday lunch. Delicious. All it needs is a generous covering of butter. That's it. Nice and simple.

German Potato Bread

I have found my new favourite bread! Again, the Hairy Bikers baked this loaf whilst on tour in Germany and I was intrigued to find out what it tasted like, especially as the dough is made with mashed potato.

We have just enjoyed this for lunch and it was the softest loaf I have ever made with a fabulous crust. I hadn't expected it to turn out so soft having used potatoes in the mix plus not a lot of water. I made it into a ham and cheese sandwich but I would imagine you could eat this bread with pretty much anything and not be disappointed. A great dipping bread for soup. Absolutely delicious.

My new paddle

I have discovered a great new site http://bakerybits.co.uk/ and treated myself to a bread paddle to help lift the bread in and out of the oven. It works a treat. Great for pizzas too.

Chocolate Marble Cake

I usually stick with savoury baking, leaving my wife to take the glory on the cake front. But I thought I'd give her a run for her money and give this marble cake a go. What's more, a group of us new dads have formed a 'Pudding Club', so I thought I'd better get in some practice.

It was a fairly simple recipe but the most important thing about the cake is to get the chocolate swirls when you cut into it. I think I managed it :)

Scandinavian Rye Bread

I have had to put my baking tools away for a while recently, after the birth of our daughter Phoebe. But in the last couple of weeks I have hopped back on the baking bicycle, having been inspired by the Hairy Bikers and their recent trip around Europe. They went in search for the best local breads, some of which looked so good I bought the book and got baking.

I started with this Rye Bread which looked great in the book and equally delicious on the TV. What I liked about it the most was the subtle flavours imparted by the caraway seeds. I ate this with cheese and pickle but it was just as good on its own with lashings of butter!