Sunday, January 2, 2022

Back to Skool

Today I joined a wonderful group of people at the Ballymaloe School of Cookery near Shanagarry in County Cork, Ireland, run by the redoubtable Darina Allen. 

People have come from all points of the compass; Canada, New York, Ireland it’s self, Holland, Switzerland, Saudi, and of course me from Spain! Our abilities range from raw beginners to experienced hospitality industry professionals and eight differing ethnicities. 

Apart from introductions nothing much was happening this first night although getting to know my housemates was great fun. It really is like going back to school, they’re all lovely and interesting people.  

So closing down and ready for bed early ready for a start at nine o’ clock sharp in the morning! 


Sunday, March 29, 2020

The Only True and Accurate White Sourdough Bread Story




After many, many attempts, finally I succeeded in making two fairly presentable loaves the other day.  So, let me caution you my lovely readers do not expect to make an acceptable loaf first time around.  I’m a fairly competent baker and if I count up, I think that I must have failed seven times before I got a result!  BUT when you do succeed, wow, it both tastes delicious and makes a chap proud! You should definitely have a go.


I have a delightful friend who is a professional baker of many years standing and she really knows what she is doing!  And as well as that, she’s French – possibly the greatest asset a baker can have.  For her, the key ingredient can’t be bought!   Its LOVE and I’m inclined to agree with her, although I’ll add to that, PATIENCE.

So, here goes with the recipe. 

The first thing that a “sour dough” mix needs is a natural starter, there is no shop bought yeast in a sourdough bread, it comes from the air all around us, in the atmosphere and in the flour its self.  Yeast and bacterial cells float all around us, the trick is to catch some and breed (ferment) them up into a culture called a “starter.” 

How sourdough bread was invented

I can only assume that one of our prehistoric Yorkshire women ancestors noticed that, (yes, no apologies for assuming early bakers were women, since I’m convinced that because  there was no football on a Saturday, for fun, the men went off catching deer and boar and wild aurox.) her flour had been left out in the rain, got wet and was forgotten about, so that when she found it, it was beginning to bubble up, and she said to herself “ahm not goin’ to waste this, I might as well cook it, an see wot ‘appens,”  “It might mek a decent Yorkshire pudding for when t’ lads get back.” So she mixed it up then threw it on a stone in the fire and noticed it rise a bit. Being a true Yorkshirewoman she wasn’t going to chuck it out, had a taste and liked it so she gave it to the lads with their dinner when they got back, to fill ‘em up and mop up the dripping from the meat; and they loved it!  They asked her “wots this ‘ere white stuff lass? Its reight tasteh,” so she made it all ovver again!!!  And there you have it, sourdough bread was invented in Yorkshire thaasands o years ago!!



Making a starter

Equipment and ingredients

1 x Large, clean, lidded Kilner jar or Tupperware container
Warm tap water
Organic white bread flour

Method

Put 100gm flour in to the container
Add 100ml water and mix

1.       Put the lid on the container loosely, and put the container in a warm place, undisturbed for a day,
2.      After a day there should be bubbles in the mixture in the jar and on top of the mixture, this shows that a fermentation has started.
3.      Throw away half of the mixture and top the remainder up with another 100gm of flour and 100ml of warm water, stir well and replace in its warm place.
4.       Repeat step three, three times, so that on the sixth day you have a vigorous mix of fermenting flour and water in the jar.

Making the Bread dough.

Ingredients
500gm strong organic white wheat flour
250gm starter
250ml tepid water
10gm table salt

Method

Take 500gm strong organic white flour and put it into the bowl of a “Kenwood” or similar food mixer.  Using the bread hook, mix the dry flour slowly.
If you don’t have a food mixer prepare for some hard work. First put the four on to a clean surface in a pile, like a volcano.  Then put a mug into the pile to create a flour free circle or “Atol”. Finally pour about half of the starter into the “Atol” and with your hands begin to draw flour from the sides and mix, adding more starter, the water and salt as the mixture gradually forms into a sticky dough.  Knead for about ten minutes until the dough becomes silky smooth, then go to * below and follow from there.
Whilst mixing at slow speed add the starter.
When the flour and starter are combined, add the 250ml tepid water and continue to mix.
When the mixture in the mixer bowl has fully blended, add the salt and gradually increase the mixing speed to about 2/3 maximum for about ten minutes or so until the sound made by the mixing contents sounds like a child’s bottom being spanked as the dough slaps the sides of the mixing bowl and the mixture has a silky texture!

Tip the dough out of the mixer bowl on to a floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes to *shape the dough into a well-formed ball.

Put the dough ball into a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and put it in a warm draught free place to prove (ferment) until the dough doubles in size.  The rise is caused by the gas released in the fermentation process, mainly carbon dioxide, being trapped as bubbles in the dough!

Now be patient, do not try to rush the fermentation, you really must wait for the dough to ‘prove’ i.e. double in volume.   Depending on the virility of your starter, this could take between two and eight hours. Stay cool!
When the dough has proved, remove it from the bowl to a floured surface, divide it into two pieces. Stab each piece with your outstretched fingers to get rid of most of the bubbles of trapped in gas, then knead it by pulling and folding it back on to itself two or three times. 

Finally shape each piece into a ball and put it into a well-floured “banneton” to prove a second time; A banneton is a ‘loaf sized’ rattan bowl especially made for proving bread. Cover the banneton with a damp cloth and for the second time put it to ferment or “prove” in a warm place, until the dough rises to once more, double in volume, or thereabouts.  But you say “A banneton” who the blazes has a banneton lurking at the back of cupboard?  Bloody no one!  So, here’s how to improvise.   Take a linen napkin or even a tea towel and flour it well, then line a colander with it.  Voila!  One make-shift banneton, then go to look for the big sieve you use for sieving cake flour, same trick, but sit it in a pan for stability.  That’s your second banneton!



Now here’s a tricky point.  This second proving could take quite a while, depending on how well or not your yeasts and bacteria are working.  In some cases, it only takes a couple of hours for the dough to rise but at other times it might take four to six hours.  This is where experience comes in.  Under prove the dough and the loaf turns out like a brick, it doesn’t contain enough gas to make a light loaf; over prove it and the bread will contain too much trapped gas and rise too much, where the gas bubbles that are trapped in the dough are too big and the structure of the dough can’t support its own weight. It will collapse as it is transferred to the baking sheet and end up looking like a cowpat!

Finally, its time to bake your sourdough.  Heat the oven to 220° C and prepare a baking tray by generously covering the base with flour, then carefully tip up the content of each banneton in turn into the palm of your hand to release the risen dough. Finally place the dough carefully on the baking tray and repeat with the second.  Put the tray in the oven on a lower middle shelf, set the timer for 35 minutes, then wait!  After 35 minutes take out the tray and turn the loaves over to brown the bases, set the timer for five more minutes, finally remove the finished bread and check that it is fully cooked by tapping the base with a knuckle.  If it sounds hollow its cooked, if it doesn’t put it back to cook for a few more minutes.  Lastly when your bread is finally cooked take it from the oven and put it on a rack to cool. 



Wait at least five minutes before cutting a first slice, oryoull burn your fingers.  Then slather it with butter and
scoff it – Yuuuuuummmm!!!

Monday, March 25, 2019

Scones, a British tea time treat


Delicious fruit scones

When rich, cranky, Auntie Maud decides that she'll get the Rolls out and un-announced, have a drive round to your place on a Sunday afternoon, when she's bored and you've nothing to give her; here's the answer that will protect your inheritance!  Almost everyone has the makings in their larder.  Easy and quick to make fruit scones.




Ingredients

225 gm Self raising flour
Pinch salt
7 gm Baking powder
80 gm granulated or caster sugar
80 gm cubed butter 
2 x Medium eggs
6 x Tablespoons full fat milk
100 gm golden raisins

Method

Set the oven to 220° C 

Line a baking tray with baking parchment to fit the tray and butter it lightly. 

Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a large glass or stainless steel bowl.

Put all the dry ingredients into the bowl and add the butter; then first, using a knife to 'cut' the ingredients together, and next your fingers, crumble the butter and flour mixture together until it forms a uniform crumb.  Then having beaten it, add one of the eggs and continue to mix the dough to a consistent consistency, being careful not to overwork it.  Or if you have one use a food mixer with the bread making tool.

Carefully add milk to the dough, observing the texture of the mixture.  At the end of the mixing process you will need a slightly loose dough that will allow the baking powder to work, creating a good rise as the scones bake.  Too stiff and the scones end up like curling stones, too loose and they're too sloppy to cut out to put on the baking tray.  Oops, no legacy!  

Finally add the raisins and mix thoroughly but gently through the dough. Then take it from the mixing bowl and put it on a floured board and pat it, it shouldn't be rolled, to a thickness of approximately 2 cm.

Take a lightly floured 6 cm cookie cutter to cut rounds from the finished dough, then put each round, well spaced out on to the baking tray.  Re-form the dough from the leftovers as each few rounds are made. There should be enough dough in this recipe to make six scones if you do it right!  Here is a "Delia" tip that I like.  Avoid twisting the cookie cutter as you cut the dough.  Twisting has the effect of 'sealing' the cut surfaces of the dough and causes the scones not to rise to their full potential.

Using the second egg, beaten, brush the top of each scone with the mixture for a glossy finish.  

Bake at 220 °C on the lower middle shelf of the oven for 15 minutes precisely, then check that they're correctly cooked.  The tops should be ever so slightly springy to the touch.  If they feel a bit heavy and "doughy," return the tray to the oven for two or three minutes, no more, then test again.  If they're hard like rock cakes, either sign yourself out of the will or give them to the neighbours children or gerbils and start again if you have time!  After all, this is a quick recipe, end to end this bake should only take forty five minutes.

Lastly bring out the posh cake stand, tea plates, butter and jam and get ready to make polite small talk to your potential benefactor.  Good luck!




Saturday, March 23, 2019

What to make with this year's amazing crop of Lemons

Lemons III

Wicked, 40° Proof Limoncello

There is nothing, but nothing so refreshing after usually, a big meal, than a shot or even two, no more, of ice cold Limoncello.  Better still home-made Limoncello.  It is an absolute doddle to make once you have convinced your friendly local pharmacist to sell you 96% alcohol.  You might even have to bribe him or her with a cheeky sample!




Ingredients

12 x Organic or at least, pesticide free lemons
1 litre 96 % pure food grade alcohol
Distilled water
1125 gm white granulated sugar

Equipment

1 x 4 litre seal-able glass jar
3 x snap top 1 x litre bottles
1 x "Lancashire" potato peeler
1 x large funnel
1 pack coffee filter papers

Method

Wash and thoroughly scrub the lemons and dry them

Similarly wash and dry the large glass container, inside and out.

Using the potato peeler remove the zest from the lemons, taking care to avoid the pith 
Put the zest into the large jar and add all the alcohol, neat.

Seal the jar and put it in a cool dark place.  Give it a shake every day for eight days or so to extract the lemon flavours. Don't ask me why eight, that's just how I do it, it seems the optimum time to extract all the lemon oil from the zest, without the alcohol turning bitter.
After eight days, remove the zest from the liquid in the jar and put it into a jug.  This is to make sure that you don't loose the alcohol that drips from it. The alcohol will have turned from being colourless to a beautiful vivid yellow.-0




Carefully decant the alcohol from the large jar into a large glass jug, temporarily.

Wash and dry the large glass jar, making sure all the zest residue has been cleaned out

Put all the sugar into the jar and then using the funnel and filter papers, filter all the lemon infused alcohol back into it.  Strangely, even though the alcohol looks bright and sparkling, it still contains small particles of lemon, which means that you may need to use several changes of filter paper.  When all the alcohol has been put back, put the lid on and lightly close it, then give the whole lot a jolly good shake.

Finally carefully measure out 1.35 litres of distilled water and add it to the sugar/alcohol mixture.  If you want your drink a little less punchy, 36% is often used by drinks manufacturers as a control point. 


If 36% is your preference add 1.7 litres of distilled water.  When all the water has been added, reseal the jar and shake it well to fully dissolve the sugar.  The brew will turn slightly cloudy, due to a cheeky little scientific phenomenon called spontaneous emulsification.

Spontaneous emulsification may occur when immiscible liquids in non-equilibrium conditions are in contact.  So now you understand, Simples!

Then let it rest for half an hour to fully infuse whilst you have a cup of tea!

The last step is to give the large jar a good shake to check that all the sugar has been dissolved, then once more using the funnel, fully bottle off the finished limoncello into the snap top bottles.This recipe will make slightly less than 3 litres of product

Just a suggestion, if you plan to make gifts of the Limoncello, use 500 ml bottles.  Even though this is a home-made drink, it isn't cheap, the base pure alcohol is the catch, at least here in Spain where I live.  




Monday, March 18, 2019

What to make with this year's amazing crop of Lemons

Lemons II

Rich Lemon Curd

There's nothing nicer for breakfast than a crispy warm croissant smothered in rich home made lemon curd.  Or use it spread on meringues, smothered in whipped cream, when you make a "different" 'Pavlova,' and a jar makes a great gift when you're invited to lunch or dinner.
There are literally dozens of ways to make it, ranging from Grannie's famous "Mrs Beaton" way that makes enough to feed the population of Wales with a bit left over for the Isle of Man, to Auntie Lulu's whizzo microwave version.  There just isn't a definitive way and it isn't difficult to make, so here's how I do it.  All you need is a little time and patience





Ingredients - to make 4 x 400gm jars

8 x Lemons, well washed and dried
8 x Large eggs
2 x Large egg yolks
600 gm Caster sugar
500 gm Butter cubed

Method

Top and tail the lemons, then juice and zest them

Whisk the eggs and yolks, well, preferably using a stick blender.

Put the lemon juice, zest, and sugar into a heavy pan and heat slowly, until the sugar dissolves, stirring constantly with a hand whisk.  Keep the syrupy mixture warm to allow the lemon flavours to infuse and extract all the flavour from the lemon zest, for not more than two or three minutes. Take great care not to caramelise the mixture!

Strain the hot zest and juice syrup through a 'chinois' or fine sieve*, into a second pan, then, stirring constantly, add the cubed butter whilst heating gently, allowing the butter to melt and homogenise.  Straining ensures that the finished lemon curd is smooth and has a creamy texture.

When all the butter is melted and combined with the syrup, slowly add the egg mixture whilst continuously stirring with a whisk.

Keep the pan heated gently and continue to whisk the mixture until it begins to thicken, which might take up to ten minutes.  Don't allow it to boil, it will split!

Egg mixtures begin to "set" at about 80 C, if you have a jam thermometer don't hesitate to use it and be guided by the readings, however, the "frozen saucer" test is almost as good, here's how.  Sample a drop of the lemon curd and put it on to a saucer you've had in the deep freeze for five minutes or so, then return the saucer to the freezer, take it out after a couple of minutes, then put a finger on to the sample and gently push it across the saucer.  If the sample "wrinkles," the lemon curd is done, if it doesn't continue to cook a little longer, then repeat the test.

Do not forget to lick the plate, it is a wicked shame to waste any of the delicious brew!

Decant the finished lemon curd into pre-prepared sterile 400gm jars and cover the surface of the curd with circles of oven parchment or ready made waxed "jam seals."  Screw down the lids of the jars tightly and allow them to cool on the kitchen worktop before storing them in a cool dark place.  As the jars cool, you should hear a 'pop' as they create a vacuum in the air gap at the tops of the jars between the lid and the lemon curd.  This is a good sign that an airtight seal has been created.

Again once it has cooled, do not forget to lick out the pan or give it to any passing small child to spread all over its self and/or the kitchen.

* If you're frugal like me, you can keep the strained zest in a small jar, covered with a couple of good measures of vodka.  I then use it to sprinkle over strawberries or other soft fruit or onto apples in pies or strudel - delicious.


Friday, March 15, 2019

Lemon Season - A few recipes and ideas about what to do with all the delicious lemons just hanging there waiting to be picked


Lemons I

I posted on Facebook and Instagram earlier this week that I’d soon be putting lemon recipes up, lemons are so good right now, in early March. However, before I start posting actual lemon recipes, and assuming people will be working with only the zest and juice of the fruit, I have some really good tips to share first. They to help the get most out of each piece of fruit. Naturally, before starting, each lemon should be washed well and dried to get rid of wax and pollutants.

Zesting


To maximise the yield of zest from each lemon, a “box grater” will be needed. You’ll see one in the next picture.

Cut off the top and tail off each lemon so that the flesh, inside is just exposed, more on this later



Next grip the lemon, now shaped like a barrel, between your thumb and second finger, then rasp it up and down on the grater’s fine cutter*, at a slight angle and turning a little with each downward stroke, until the zest is removed from about a half of the barrel of the lemon, then turn the lemon and repeat. Avoid rasping yourself and into the white flesh below the yellow skin, it hurts and the pith tastes very bitter!



I tend to find it most convenient to collect the shards of zest on a plate, rather than a bowl or directly into a pan.


Use immediately, before the lemon oil in the zest begins to evaporate.


It will now be obvious why I said to remove the tops and tails of the lemon. This way, it makes it easy to rasp the entire fruit and collect the zest from the whole lemon without scuffing up the knobbly bits at each end.


*Not the so-called nutmeg grater, it cuts much too fine.

Juicing

The second reason for cutting the tops and tails off the lemon is to enable the “crown” of the juicer to penetrate all the way into the flesh of the lemon and to poke through the top of the fruit whilst it is being squeezed, as you'll see in the picture. If the tops and tails are left on, the crown of the juicer is unable to reach that last little bit of flesh and juice at the pointed ends of the fruit.






Tuesday, March 5, 2019


A cheeky succulent little chicken in a pot

If you’ve been unexpectedly invaded by a posse of friends needing to be fed, or run out of ideas for feeding your family and they’re starving, when all you have ‘in’ is that frozen chicken tucked away somewhere at the back of the freezer, do not despair! I have the perfect solution AND it is amazingly economical, three dishes from one bird and it can be cooked from frozen in less than forty minutes.   I invented this recipe when I was a bit boxed in, but I’m sure it is at least partly rooted somewhere in Jewish medical culture :o)





Ingredients


It goes without saying that you should use organic or at least certified pesticide free ingredients if you can find and afford them

1 x Frozen chicken, organic and as free range as you can get

3 x Celery sticks

3 x Carrots

1 x Large white onion

2 x Tablespoons of dried tarragon

2 Litres still, spring water

Salt


Method

Remember that it isn’t necessary to defrost the chicken for this recipe

Dice the celery and carrots

Peel and quarter the onion

Put half of the vegetables and tarragon in a pan that is big enough to hold the whole chicken

Put the chicken on top of the vegetables

Add the remaining vegetables, tarragon and about a heaped teaspoon of salt, then cover the chicken with the water.

Quickly bring the ingredients to a rapid boil, then reduce the heat until the water is at a hearty rolling simmer, for 20/25 minutes.  At this stage, don’t overcook the chicken otherwise none of the flavour will be retained in the bird.  They will all transfer to the liquor.

After 25 minutes the chicken will be thoroughly cooked, inside and out because of the immersion method of cooking, it should be falling apart and tricky to lift out of the pan.  The cooking liquor will be full of delicious tarragon chicken flavour.  At this point if your family or guests are desperate, the chicken can be served straight from the pot.  Don’t forget “boiled fowl” has an honourable gastronomic history.  The “Tudors” would happily scoff down a couple for breakfast, before moving on to heartier fare, maybe swans leg or a beef chop or two!

I digress, my choice to finish the chicken, given time, is to sprinkle the bird with just a little salt and smoked paprika and then whack it into a piping hot oven at 220 C to colour up for a further 15 to 20 minutes.

Then just plate it up and serve it in your usual way, you might even just rip it to pieces and eat it with your fingers, whilst dipping crunchy soda bread or baguette into some of the cooking liquor.  Its fun and much healthier than a certain transatlantic, highly calorific offering.

Footnote
I said at the beginning that you could get three dishes from one bird, this is how.

1.      Divide the cooking liquor two thirds to one third, retaining the vegetables in the larger portion.  Add a cup or so of pearled barley and simmer until the barley softens.  Voila, spectacular and nourishing chicken and vegetable broth.

2.      Simmer the smaller portion of cooking liquor until it reduces to about 5/600 ml and decant it into a clean glass jar (whilst still piping hot) and rapidly seal it.  Make sure that the lid ‘pops’ as a vacuum forms whilst the jar and contents cool.  When it is completely cold it can be kept in the fridge for a month or so and used whenever a recipe calls for chicken stock in sauces or better still in a rich risotto!