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The Great British Bake Off How To Avoid A Soggy Bottom and Other Secrets To Achieving A Good Bake
The Great British Bake Off How To Avoid A Soggy Bottom and Other Secrets To Achieving A Good Bake
Cover
About the Book
List of Recipes
Title Page
Introduction
Cakes and Biscuits
A Slice of History
Types of Cake
Cake-making Methods
Giving Rise to Your Cake
All About Eggs
Recipe Substitutions
Troubleshooting
Biscuits
Bread
The Humble Loaf
The Power of Flour
The Properties of Yeast
Making Bread
Baking Your Loaf
Sourdough
Sweet Doughs
Pastry
Early Pastry
The Importance of Fat
Making Pastry
Troubleshooting
Fancy Types of Pastry
Desserts
The Rise of the Dessert
Creamy Desserts
Souffls
Whisking Eggs
Flavours and Fillings
Sugar
Cream and Buttercream
Vanilla
Chocolate
Index
Copyright
List of Recipes
A Modern Pound Cake
A Simple White Loaf
Angel Food Cake
Bara Brith
Boiled Fruit Cake
Choux Pastry
Cocoa Macaroons
Clotted Cream
Crme Anglaise
Croissants
Flourless Chocolate Roulade
French Vanilla Buttercream
Gooseberry Pie
Gingernuts
Hot-water Crust Pastry
Italian Meringue Buttercream
Italian Meringue Macaroons
Olive Oil Pastry
Puff Pastry
Pastry Cream
Rough Puff Pastry
Sally Lunn Bun
Scones
Shortbread
Shortcrust Pastry
Sourdough Bread
Sourdough Starter
Sugar-free Fruit Cake
Sweet Pastry
The Grant Loaf
INTRODUCTION
Whether you are already an avid baker wanting to improve your skills
or just thinking about making a cake for the first time and interested to
find out more, this book is for you.
How to Avoid a Soggy Bottom is not your usual cookery book, however. Its a
helpful guide and a friendly companion to your well-stocked cookbook
collection. By gently guiding you through the rules of baking, it will show you
how to improve your techniques and hopefully give you the confidence to
experiment with your own recipes or adapt recipes from your favourite books.
Ultimately, its going to make your baking better.
Every good baker should have a thorough knowledge of the art, science and
history of their craft because learning about the origins of the processes and the
principles behind them will really help you to understand why you do things a
certain way or why things might not have worked. With this in mind, this book
investigates the chemistry as well as the history behind the age-old methods we
use why baking powder was invented and how it works; how brewing came to
play such an important role in breadmaking; why you cream a sponge cake, but
use the rubbing-in method to make scones; and how gluten affects the texture of
your pastry.
To help you along the way, there are tried-and-tested recipes that use the key
skills explained in each chapter. Have a go at making yeasted and creamed
sponge cakes, kneaded and unkneaded loaves, and rich pastries made with
butter, olive oil and lard to see what they do to the bakes flavour and texture.
These recipes will give you a good foundation to build on so that you can take
your baking to new heights.
With this book in one hand and your wooden spoon in the other, you neednt
fear the risk of over-whisked egg whites, damp biscuits, grainy caramel or,
indeed, a soggy bottom ever again.
Gerard Baker
CAKES
A SLICE OF HISTORY
It wasnt until the fifteenth century that the texture of cakes became anything
like the light, spongy varieties we enjoy today. Little, airy delicacies, such as
sponge fingers and biscuits began to appear, but rather than using yeast to
make them rise, these lighter cakes were made with eggs, beaten by hand for up
to an hour and sweetened with the exotic delicacy of sugar. However, as eggs
were not readily available, these tasty morsels were considered a luxury and
enjoyed only by the privileged few. Eggs would not become common in cake
baking until the eighteenth century and then gradually became the raising agent
of choice until the invention of baking powder (for more on raising agents and
eggs, see here and here).
As baking techniques developed, the muddled evolution of breads, pastries,
cakes and biscuits continued and the differences between the four types was
often hard to define. This conundrum is perhaps most evident in some of our
favourite regional cakes. Welsh Bara Brith (see here) is a good example of an
early bread-like cake; Eccles cakes and Banbury cakes are more like pastry than
cakes; while the flat, round Goosnargh cakes (similar to shortbread) might now
be described more accurately as biscuits.
Finally, it was the cake-loving Victorians whom we must thank for giving
Britain one of its most cherished and most baked cakes, the Victoria sandwich.
The classic recipe for the jam-filled sponge was laid out by Mrs Beeton in her
Book of Household Management in 1861 and has been proudly served at
afternoon teas, school ftes and bake sales ever since.
BARA BRITH
Bara Brith (meaning speckled bread) is a fruity teatime snack and perhaps one
of the best examples of a sweet bread-like cake raised using yeast. Debates still
abound in Wales as to whether it should be classed as a bread or a cake, and
some modern recipes now omit the yeast and use self-raising flour, but the
recipe below, which does contain yeast, remains true to tradition.
Makes 1 1kg loaf
10g fresh yeast or 5g dried yeast or 5g fast-action dried yeast
160ml warm milk
45g soft dark brown sugar
TYPES OF CAKE
help prevent the cake from doming in the centre during baking.
Place in the centre of the oven. If you are making one large cake, bake for 20
minutes, then turn the heat down to 150C/300F/gas 2 and bake for a further
3540 minutes. If you are making two small cakes, bake them for 2025
minutes.
The cake is ready when it feels firm to a light touch. Transfer the cake, still in
the tin, to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes or so before turning out (this helps
prevent the cake from sticking).
For a vanilla-flavoured cake:
Add the seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod to the creamed butter and sugar
mixture.
For a chocolate cake:
Replace one-fifth the weight of flour with cocoa powder, and sift this with the
remaining flour before folding into the cake.
For a coffee cake:
Dissolve 2 teaspoons instant coffee powder in 1 teaspoon hot water and cool;
add this with the eggs.
For a lemon cake:
Finely grate the zest from 2 unwaxed lemons and add to the butter before
creaming.
For an almond and cherry cake:
Add 25g ground almonds per egg, and the same weight of glac cherries as
eggs. Rinse and dry the cherries, then dust with flour before adding to the cake
after you have folded in the flour and ground almonds. Add an optional
teaspoon pure almond essence to the eggs before beating. Sprinkle the cake
with 50g flaked or nibbed almonds and 1 tablespoon demerara sugar before
baking.
For a seed cake:
Add 1 teaspoon caraway seeds with sugar.
You can also use this mixture to make fairy cakes using a 12-hole fairy cake tin,
lined with cases. They will take much less time to bake, so watch carefully and
remove from the oven when golden, risen and firm to the touch.
baked in such cups, and in 1806 British cook Maria Rundell published a recipe
in which her cake was measured using teacups. The other possibility is that the
name comes from the use of measuring cups in American baking recipes. While
fairy cakes are made using a basic pound cake recipe (see here), cupcakes are
more frequently made using a higher proportion of flour and liquid and less fat.
They have a drier texture and a finer crumb, which is why theyre often topped
with lashings of icing.
add a couple of tablespoons of rum each week up to December, then stop and
allow the cake to mature before decorating it on Christmas Eve.
Dont be tempted to cut corners with the quality of any booze you put into
your cake. Remember, it will only taste as good as the cheapest ingredient!
CAKE-MAKING METHODS
buy baking powder, check the label. Those powders that include aluminium
compounds can give a cake or biscuit a metallic aftertaste a good reason to
avoid them.
As a rule of thumb, 1 teaspoon (5g) of baking powder will raise 110g of plain
flour, but baking powder packets give a handy guide to how much to use for
each recipe. Make sure that the two are mixed well before you add them to other
ingredients or your bake will rise unevenly.
RECIPE SUBSTITUTIONS
melted mixtures as the anti-caking agent will be incorporated into the mixture.
Its not advisable to use icing sugar in syrups.
A whisked sponge cake is another type of cake that contains a limited amount
of fat. It does contain whole eggs, and therefore some fat, which exists in the egg
yolk. However, it still contains much less than a creamed sponge, which usually
consists of around 25 per cent fat.
TROUBLESHOOTING
If your cake is turning brown long before you expect it to be ready, the safest
option is to reduce the oven temperature to 140C/275F/gas 1 (the original
heat will hopefully have already activated the raising agents).
It is best to leave the cake at this temperature to finish baking it might well
take a little longer but better than having a burnt cake! To be sure it is done, test
your cake with a temperature probe as recommended on here.
If youre still worried about it and your cake has quite a while still to bake, you
can also lay a sheet of foil loosely over the surface of the cake, which will reflect
heat and prevent it from burning.
You certainly can so theres no need to throw the mixture out with the
eggshells! You can try adding another egg yolk to the mixture, or even a
spoonful of warm water, both of which can help.
If you notice that the mixture looks as if it is about to curdle (it will look
grainy), you can stir in a tablespoon of flour. If your mix does curdle, this doesnt
mean the end of it: the baked cake will simply not be as light as it otherwise
would have been, but it will taste just the same so dont start reaching for your
bin.
caused by using eggs that are too small. Check your recipe if a number of eggs
is given, ensure that this equates to the right weight of liquid. For example, if you
are making a pound cake, or a cake where the eggs should make up 25 per cent
of the weight of the cake mixture, be sure that the eggs do weigh that when
cracked. To make up any difference you can add additional beaten egg or milk to
the mix, but dont add more than 1 tablespoon of milk per egg used as any more
will overly dilute the mixture.
Another simple explanation is that youve used a cake tin that is too small. By
doing so, the outer edge of the cake sets and stiffens as it reaches the top of the
tin while the remaining cake mixture continues to cook and rise. The tin
prevents it from pushing through the crust other than where it is softest in the
middle. This is why long-baked or deep sponge cakes sometimes erupt
volcanically as the uncooked centre emerges through the lightly set crust of the
middle.
the strip of paper around the sides, allowing the snipped edge to fold over onto
the base. Grease the side strip. Finally, place the other cut sheet of paper on the
base, on top of the snipped edge, and grease this.
For an extra layer of protection, the tin for fruit cakes, which are often in the
oven for a couple of hours, can be wrapped on the outside with a sheet of brown
paper, newspaper or foil, which slows the penetration of heat into the cake and
prevents the outer layers from overcooking, or burning.
BISCUITS
thing, we do make the distinction that cookies are larger than biscuits and
underbaked so that they are still slightly soft in the centre rather than fully crisp.
To Americans, a cookie is sweet and may be either soft or crisp, while what we
call a savoury biscuit is called a cracker in the USA. And to further confuse
things, their biscuit is similar to our scone!
It is thought that cookies developed as test pieces of dough used for checking
that the oven temperature was neither too hot nor too cool for baking a larger
cake or bread (which would have been difficult to judge without modern
thermometers).
One of the most popular cookies, the chocolate chip, was first invented in
1937 by Ruth Graves Wakefield, who ran a restaurant in Massachusetts called
the Toll House. Such was the success of her cookies that Ruths reputation
spread and Nestl began to manufacture bars of chocolate sold with a special
cutter designed to cut chunks of chocolate that were the perfect size for the
chips in the Toll House cookies. The recipe was printed on the inside of the
wrapper.
GINGERNUTS
Makes 4550 biscuits
200g self-raising flour
that contain sugar of one kind or another soften more quickly because sugar is
hygroscopic (this means that sugar absorbs water from the air).
Although we use a biscuit tin these days to keep our biscuits crisp, historically
other devices have been invented not only to dry the biscuits once made, but
also to store them. The breadflake was one such example: this was a large
vertical rack that would have been stood in front of an open fire. Biscuits or
oatcakes could be stacked on it for drying rather like a giant magazine rack.
When stored on a breadflake they would keep crisp for a long time.
So, what can you do if your biscuits have gone soft? The easiest way to refresh
and crisp them again is to place them on a baking sheet and to warm them for 10
minutes in an oven preheated to 140C/280F/gas 2. Transfer them to a wire
rack to cool and then put them into an airtight tin as soon as you can.
SHORTBREAD
Old recipes for shortbread frequently include caraway seeds or other spices and
usually some form of citrus peel. They are lovely and well worth trying. This
recipe uses both.
You can either rub in the mixture using your fingers or blend together in a
food processor. As there is virtually no water in the dough, there is no chance of
developing the gluten in the flour, so the biscuits will be deliciously crisp and
delicate whichever method you use.
Makes approximately 20 biscuits or two large shortbreads made with a 15cmdiameter mould
The huge variety of breads that we eat today, regardless of where we live, owe a
lot to ancient methods and early ingredients. Sourdough and slow-fermented
breads made with yeast, and griddle- and stone-baked soda breads, are some of
the earliest types of leavened breads, invented by those without ovens, yet they
now grace artisan bakeries across the country.
Although wheat flour is most widely used in British bread-making today, a
whole host of regional variations were once enjoyed throughout the country;
differences in landscape, weather, altitude and soil in our small islands meant
that bread was made from what grew best locally. Barley, rye and oat flours
were all widely used as the main grain in regions where wheat production
wasnt possible or where these other grains were simply more productive. The
oats is still dominant in Scottish agriculture and cuisine as it is one of the few
grains to withstand their harsh winters, hence the continued popularity of
oatcakes, one of the earliest forms of bread.
You need just four very simple ingredients to make bread: flour, yeast, salt and
water. Above all, you also need time. Bread-making isnt something you should
hurry. As this chapter explains, those ingredients all have defined roles in
helping you to bake a perfectly risen loaf and they need to be given the time to
work. Similarly, the stage of allowing your kneaded dough to rest and rise
prove is vital in helping to ensure you bake a loaf with an evenly browned
crust and a lovely chewy crumb with good flavour.
Extra-strong bread flour (white and wholemeal) is also widely available, and
usually made from Canadian flour with 1516 per cent protein. Its most often
used for making bagels and for bread with a bread-maker where kneading is
reduced and the dough is usually proved only once. The dough can absorb more
water and rise higher to make a bigger, lighter-textured loaf.
Most wheat bread recipes need flours with about 12 per cent protein content.
Bread made using flour other than strong bread flour wont rise as much and
could be heavier, flatter and denser, as it is in Irish soda bread, for example,
which uses flour with less protein. The best baguettes are made from French
flour with a slightly lower protein content than British bread flour, as this allows
the crust to crack when the dough cant rise any more and it tears when its
over-stretched. Flour with lower protein content can also be used for sweet
bread doughs as these contain other ingredients which lighten the dough and
Look at a bag of flour and you will see it has a best before or use by date. While
it is true that flour will keep almost indefinitely as long as it is stored in a cool
dry place, the flavour of the flour will deteriorate, especially wholemeal flour.
This is because wholemeal flour contains a small amount of fat that isnt present
in white flour, and which can turn rancid over time. Buy flour as you need it. The
ideal keeping time for a bag of flour is a month. Obviously this isnt always
practical, but the fresher the flour, the better the flavour your bread will have.
What is yeast?
A yeast is a living organism; it is in fact a type of fungi. Yeast cells cover the
surface of many foods, including grains and fruits and given the chance with
some moisture, a little warmth and food (in the form of flour or sugar) yeast
will start to grow.
as amylase, an enzyme, and ascorbic acid, which are included to make it work
quickly. Fresh yeast may simply take a little longer to get going and two rises
will produce a better loaf than a single rise.
If you are following a recipe that uses fresh yeast and want to substitute dried
yeast, the simple formula is to use half the weight. In other words, if the recipe
calls for 14g fresh yeast, replace this with 7g dried yeast. By volume, 7g is 1
teaspoons, measured level. A sachet of fast-action yeast normally weighs 7g.
minutes to even it out. Divide the dough into two equal portions. Knead each
lightly to form a cylinder that has a crease at its base. Place in the tins crease
down and cover them with a damp tea towel. Leave the loaves to rise at the
same warm room temperature for 4560 minutes until they have doubled in
size this will be when the dough just mounds over the rim of the tins by 1
2cm.
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas 7 and adjust the shelves so that the
loaves have room to rise.
When the oven is hot, remove the tea towel and sprinkle the loaves with a
little flour. Carefully slice a shallow groove along the centre of each loaf. Place in
the oven and bake for 20 minutes, then turn the loaves around so that they cook
evenly. Reduce the temperature to 180C/350F/gas 4 and bake for a further
2025 minutes.
The loaves are ready if they sound hollow when tapped on the base.
Turn the loaves out onto a wire rack and allow them to cool fully before using.
When cold, store in an airtight tin for up to three days. You can also try these
variations:
For milk bread:
Replace the water with full-fat milk.
For a rich loaf:
Replace the water with 450ml full-fat milk and add 100g softened butter and 1
egg, beaten, which should be added to the flour with the yeast and milk mixture.
For baps:
Use half milk and half water and add 50g butter or lard cut into small chunks
which should be added to the dough along with the liquids and kneaded
together.
Divide the risen dough into 18 even balls and roll each into a flat disc. Leave
to rise for another 30 minutes, then bake in a preheated 200C/400F/gas 6
oven for 20 minutes.
MAKING BREAD
rise until it reaches the top of the tin. But not all tins are the same size you
might have two with the same capacity yet one is deeper or longer.
To ensure your dough has had enough time to rise, leave it until it has
doubled in size. You do, of course, need to take note of what the dough looked
like when you first left it to rise, so that you will know when it has doubled.
Watching and testing the spring of your dough as it rises is also useful. The
consistency of the dough will change during this process. When a loaf is first
shaped and put into its tin, the gluten will be full of elastic energy and will
bounce back, feeling firm. As the dough rises some of this elastic energy will
dissipate and the dough will feel less firm. It will also feel spongier because of
the amount of carbon dioxide it now contains as a result of the fermentation.
There will come a point in its development when the dough no longer springs
back when gently pressed with a fingertip. At this point it is ready to bake. If you
leave the loaf to rise any longer, it will be over-proved. What may happen then is
that the production of carbon dioxide exceeds the ability of the gluten network
to hold the gas as distinct bubbles, which will then cause the loaf to collapse. If
the loaf does not collapse, it will be very uneven once baked and, more likely
than not, will be flat on top, rather than nicely rounded.
The last reason is that the loaf may not have been kneaded enough, which
means the gluten structure wont have been properly developed, the
distribution of carbon dioxide gas bubbles will not have been even and
consequently the dough will not have risen evenly.
Crumb is the term that bakers use to describe the inside of a loaf of bread.
Bakers talk of trying to achieve the perfect crumb, which usually means a wellrisen loaf with an even, light texture. If the dough is too dry, the texture of the
bread will be close and tight. This is because the dough is too firm to allow the
carbon dioxide bubbles to expand properly during the rising process, which
results in a heavy crumb.
The temperature at which a dough is risen will also affect the evenness of the
crumb. Ideally, a loaf should be allowed to rise at a moderate room temperature
(see here) so heat will penetrate the dough gradually. If the temperature is too
high, the outer layers of the loaf will develop too quickly, resulting in an uneven
crumb with many different sizes of bubble this is one reason why you should
to knock back a risen dough (see here).
SOURDOUGH
What is sourdough?
Sourdough is the name used to describe a bread that is leavened using a
sourdough starter or culture. The starter is made up of wild yeasts, which are
gathered from natural sources (such as the air and in flour), rather than the
purified, manufactured varieties. A portion of the starter is mixed with the bread
ingredients and the resulting sourdough bread derives much of its flavour from
the yeasts.
Absolutely! You can grow your own wild yeast at home to make a sourdough
starter. All you need is a suitable source of food, water, an ambient room
temperature (18C/64F to 23C/73F) and a little time. In about 2 weeks you
should be able to bake your loaf.
The food can be a stoneground organic rye or a wheat and rye flour mix. This
is minimally processed, meaning that more varieties of yeast will be present in
the resulting starter.
To maintain a healthy starter you need to provide conditions that favour the
yeasts (fungi), and that limit the growth of bacteria. The way to do this is to
refresh the starter with fresh flour and water each day known as feeding it
and to keep your starter at room temperature. It is this balance that is the driver
behind sourdough success. You need both the fungi and the bacteria, but in the
right proportions. It can be tricky to get the balance right, which is why making
sourdough does take practice.
SOURDOUGH STARTER
Makes approximately 300g
100g organic rye flour, plus more for feeding
170ml water, boiled and cooled, plus more for feeding
Combine the flour and water in a 1-litre bowl. Beat the ingredients together
well until there are no lumps, then scrape the sides of the bowl clean, making a
starter is very active it will grow quite substantially and may spill over the rim of
the jar so do keep an eye on it.) If youre using your starter to make bread
regularly you will be harvesting and feeding it every day. However, once the
yeast and bacteria present have used up any available food, they will go
dormant and wait for conditions to improve (i.e. for you to feed them and then
harvest them again for baking). If youre not using your starter straightaway,
you can maintain it in this dormant state in the fridge for a few days. To
reactivate it, simply bring it back to room temperature and start the feeding
process again. After a few days it should be bubbly and ready for use again.
Dont freeze your starter, though, because many of the yeast cells will be
killed in the process.
SOURDOUGH BREAD
Makes 1 large or 2 small loaves
500g organic strong white bread flour
15g fine salt
250g sourdough starter (see here)
250ml water, at room temperature coarse semolina and additional flour, for
dusting
Mix the flour with the salt in a large bowl. Separately, mix the starter and
water together until well blended. Add to the flour and stir to amalgamate.
When nearly mixed, tip out onto a lightly floured board. Knead the dough with
both hands until it is even and there are no lumps of flour. Dont worry if the
dough is quite wet; it will firm up as the flour absorbs the water fully and the
gluten develops.
Knead the dough, occasionally scraping it from your hands, until it is shiny
and very elastic. This can take up to 15 minutes, so you may want to consider
using a large free-standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Place the
dough in a large bowl, cover with a damp, clean tea towel and leave to rise at
room temperature for 23 hours until it has doubled in size.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into one large or
two small balls. Dust a clean, dry, coarse tea towel with a mixture of 1
tablespoon each of flour and semolina, rubbing the mixture into the surface of
the cloth. Line one large or two small baskets or colanders with the cloth. Place
the ball(s) of dough, crease uppermost, in the basket(s). Draw the cloth gently
over the dough, then leave to rise again until doubled in size. This will probably
take 2 hours.
When the dough is nearly ready, preheat your oven to 220C/425F/gas 7.
Arrange the shelves so that they will give the loaf or loaves space to rise and put
a roasting tin in the base of the oven if you want a crusty loaf. Place a sturdy
baking sheet for each loaf in the oven to preheat.
When the loaf is risen and the oven is hot, open up the cloth and sprinkle the
dough with a little flour (this will be the base of the loaf). Transfer the loaf to the
baking sheet, ensuring the crease of the dough is on the bottom.
Slash the top of the loaf carefully using a sharp, serrated knife or razor blade
(this will allow the loaf to expand quickly), then put the loaf in the oven. If you
want a crustier loaf, follow the advice about adding steam on here, but be careful
not to use so much water that it causes the oven to cool down.
Bake a large loaf for 50 minutes, turning the oven down to 180C/350F/gas
4 after 30 minutes. Bake small loaves for 3035 minutes only. Test for
readiness by tapping the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds hollow, and is well
browned and firm, it is cooked through. Remove the loaf to a wire rack and allow
it to cool fully before cutting.
SWEET DOUGHS
The Sally Lunn is a light, rich round tea bun that has been made in Britain for at
least 300 years. Its exact origins, and quite how it came to be named are unclear
and historians have put forward several theories.
Some say there was indeed an original baker called Sally Lunn, who owned a
pastry shop and shouted about her wares in the street. The bun was created to
commemorate her. Others claim the recipe bears strong resemblance to a
French Alsatian bake called solilem.
Most sources do agree, however, that the bun comes from France, that it
should be made with cream or milk to enrich the dough and a little lemon zest or
mixed spice, and ought to be eaten sliced and spread with clotted cream or
butter. It can be made as one large bun or several small ones.
yeast begins to froth. Mix the remaining flour, sugar and salt together in a large
bowl. If using fast-action dried yeast, add it to the bowl of flour after you have
mixed in the sugar and salt.
Heat the cream in a small pan until it reaches 30C/80F, then add the eggs
and beat in the lemon zest until the eggs are thoroughly blended.
Mix the egg mixture, and yeast mixture if using, with the flour using a large
spoon and bring all of the ingredients together to form a smooth, soft dough.
Tip this onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes or until
the dough is shiny and free of any floury lumps. Place the dough back into a
large bowl and leave it in a warm place, covered with cling film or a clean damp
cloth, in a warm place for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
Once the dough has doubled in size, tip it once again onto a lightly floured
work surface and knead it for a minute or two to knock out any large bubbles.
Form the dough into a smooth ball and place this, crease down, into the
prepared tin.
Cover the dough once again with cling film or a clean damp cloth and allow it
to rise for 2030 minutes until it has doubled in size. While the bun rises for the
second time, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6, making sure that there is
plenty of space in the centre of the oven for the bun to rise as it bakes.
When the dough is risen, place the cake tin on a baking tray and bake it for 25
minutes, until it is risen and a brown crust has formed. Test the bun by gently
tapping the surface to check it sounds hollow.
When cooked, place the bun on a wire rack to cool. For the glaze, place the
milk and sugar in a small pan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. When it
simmers, use a clean pastry brush to spread it over the surface of the bun, and as
it dries, brush on more glaze until it is all used up. The glaze will dry to a shiny
gloss.
When cool, slice the Sally Lunn into horizontal slices, and serve alongside
clotted cream and your favourite jam.
associated with the counties of Devon and Cornwall which both have very
specific rules as to how to assemble the jam and cream correctly. In Devon, the
cream goes on to the scone first, with the jam sitting on top; while in Cornwall
the jam is followed by the cream. The debate continues to rage For an extraspecial homemade treat, why not have a go at making your own clotted cream
(see recipe on here)?
SCONES
Makes 20 small or 10 large scones
500g self-raising flour
70g caster sugar
125g chilled, slightly salted butter, cut into small cubes
210ml full-fat milk
flour or beaten egg, to finish
1 round cutter, preferably straight-sided 45cms for small scones and 7
8cms for larger; a baking sheet, lined with baking paper
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6 if making small scones or
180C/350F/gas 4 if making large ones.
Put the flour in the bowl of a food processor and add the sugar and butter.
Blend until the mixture is very fine and there are no lumps of fat remaining. The
mixture should look like a light yellow flour, indicating that the fat is very evenly
distributed.
Tip the mixture into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the milk
and stir briskly with a fork until the mixture is even dont try to gather the
dough together until it is very evenly blended and there are no lumps of flour
present. Once all of the liquid is incorporated, bring the dough together into a
smooth, even dough avoid kneading, which would toughen the scones.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to a thickness of
34cm. The way in which you cut out the scones will have an effect on their
rising in the oven. A straight-sided cutter, dipped in flour, is best so that the
dough is cut smoothly and not compressed, and the sides of each scone are
straight.
Once you have cut the scones, place them evenly on the lined baking sheet,
spacing them slightly apart to allow for expansion. Pinch together any dough
trimmings, trying to avoid incorporating too much extra flour, and re-roll gently
to cut more scones.
Dust the scones with a little flour or glaze the tops with a little beaten egg.
Bake small scones for 1012 minutes and large scones for 20 minutes or until
they are evenly browned. Cool on a wire rack.
Honest, hearty and occasionally a little bit rough around the edges, the versatile
pie has provided sustenance for the British for centuries. Although pastry was
initially developed for practical reasons as a means of protecting the food
inside it the use of pastry in British cooking has grown to encompass some of
our most iconic bakes, from pork pies and sausage rolls to treacle tarts. Today,
pastry-making has progressed from its modest origins to become a highly skilled
art form: modern patisserie is a glamorous mixture of elaborate design and
creativity with ever more intricate bakes making their appearance on our tea
and dessert tables.
Pastry dough is primarily made from fat and flour and by finding out how they
interact with each other, youll be able to appreciate why the fat needs to be
kept at a certain temperature and why you shouldnt over-work the flour.
Making pastry isnt difficult, but you do need to follow certain rules to avoid
under- or over-cooking it, and of course, to avoid every pastry-makers biggest
fear, the soggy bottom. Once you understand the properties of each type of
pastry, from the crisp, buttery durable shortcrust to the lighter, flakier types of
laminated pastry, you will soon be able to fill them to your hearts content.
EARLY PASTRY
kept for weeks and were frequently sent as gifts to friends and relatives.
In 1596 the first recipe for puff pastry appeared in Thomas Dawsons
Elizabethan cookbook, The Good Housewifes Jewel. It is likely that the method for
making puff pastry was already widely known, but this is the first time it
appeared in print.
rich pastries made from yeast-risen doughs that are very often laminated like
puff pastry. As such, they fall midway between pastry and bread. Danish pastries
and croissants are two good examples of Viennoiserie.
Unsalted butter ages more quickly than salted because the salt inhibits the
growth of microbes. If you come across a good offer on unsalted butter in the
shops, buy a quantity and freeze it (cut into 125g pieces) it will keep for up to 2
months.
water and behave, in pastry-making, in much the same way as their animal
counterparts. If the oils are only partly hydrogenated, however, the fat will be
too soft at room temperature and wont be suitable for making pastry.
Lower and very low-fat margarines contain a larger proportion of water, so
they behave differently when used in baking and arent suitable for pastrymaking. As margarines have developed, manufacturers have created versions
with a similar fat content to butter (80 per cent), mixed with water using
emulsifiers such as lecithin. Although this type of margarine can be used for
making pastry, its flavour is not as good as butter. If you want to use margarine,
always check the label to ensure that it is suitable for baking, and specifically for
making pastry.
MAKING PASTRY
SHORTCRUST PASTRY
Makes enough to line a 25cm tart or flan tin
250g plain flour
150g slightly salted butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
80100ml cold water
If you are mixing by hand, tip the flour into a large bowl and add the cubes of
butter. Using just your fingertips, crumble or rub the butter and flour together
until you have a fine breadcrumb-like texture. How finely you mix the butter and
flour together will affect the texture of the finished pastry if you leave the
lumps of butter larger, the result will be flakier.
When you are satisfied with the crumb, add 80ml cold water in stages, mixing
between each addition so that the butter-flour mix hydrates evenly this way
you are less likely to overwork the pastry than if you add all the water at once.
You may need a little more water to bring the dough together, but take care not
to add too much as this will make the pastry tough.
Once the dough can be easily brought together with your fingertips, pinch it
carefully into a ball, then form it into a smooth, flattened lump. Wrap this in cling
film and leave to rest in a cool place or the fridge for a minimum of 15 minutes
before rolling out.
To make this pastry in a food processor, pulse the flour and butter together
until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Dont be tempted to add the water to
the mixture in the food processor as the machine will easily overwork the dough,
making it tough. Instead, tip the crumbs into a large bowl and add the water in
stages, mixing each addition in as in stage 2 above.
A puff pastry is not ideal for a double-crust pie as it is too delicate and
wouldnt crisp properly it needs to be able to expand to let the layers rise, but
puff, flaky and rough puff pastry work well as pie lids.
Flaky pastry and rough puff pastry can also be used to make tarts with slightly
wet fillings, such as fruit, but they will soak up any excess liquid so need to be
baked blind before being filled.
GOOSEBERRY PIE
Serves 8
380g plain flour
190g unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
130150ml cold water
1kg gooseberries, washed, topped and tailed
150180g caster sugar, to taste
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for glazing
1 2225cm diameter deep pie dish
Make the pastry according to the method for the shortcrust pastry on here,
and chill for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the gooseberries and taste one. If they are very green,
you will need to use the larger quantity of caster sugar. If they are beginning to
ripen and have a yellow tinge, they will need a little less; some berries wont
need any sugar at all.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6. Roll out the pastry on a lightly
floured board or worktop and cut out a circle just larger than the top of the pie
dish 10cm larger is enough. Using a pastry brush, dampen the edge of the dish
with a little beaten egg (egg wash) or water. Cut up the trimmings of pastry and
use to line the edge of the dish; moisten this edging.
Pile the gooseberries in the dish and sprinkle with the caster sugar. The fruit
will come up higher than the top of the pie dish, but dont worry as it will cook
down as it bakes.
Lift the sheet of pastry onto the pie and press the edge to seal to the pastry
edging. Using a sharp knife, trim the pastry at the outer rim of the pie dish and
pinch to seal. Use any leftover pastry to make leaves or other shapes to
decorate the top, sticking them on with egg wash, and cut a small cross in the
centre to release steam as the fruit cooks. (Chill the pie now to relax the pastry,
if the weather is warm.)
Brush egg wash all over the pastry lid and sprinkle liberally with granulated
sugar. Place the pie dish on a preheated baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes.
When the time is up, insert a sharp knife into the centre of the pie to check that
the fruit is soft.
You could also stir 2 beaten egg yolks into the fruit mixture to thicken the
filling.
SWEET PASTRY
Its easier to make a large batch and freeze half, though you should use this
within a month.
Makes enough to line 2x 25cm tart/flan tins
400g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g icing sugar, sifted
2 egg yolks
2 dessertspoons of white rum or brandy
550g plain flour
Beat together the softened butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until the
mixture is well blended and light (do not use an electric mixer you risk
overbeating, resulting in a tough pastry). Add the egg yolk and rum and beat
well until they are fully incorporated. Finally, sift the flour into the bowl. Mix
thoroughly but do not over beat.
When the dough or paste is thoroughly blended and lump-free, scrape it onto
a sheet of cling film and form it into a flattened round. Chill for at least 1 hour
before using.
TROUBLESHOOTING
and return it to the oven. This is best done to a tart case that is almost fully
cooked because the firmer pastry will be less likely to crack as you patch it up.
While the pastry case is still hot (roughly 10 minutes before the end of the
baking time), mould small pieces of raw dough between your fingers and smear
it into the cracks. Youll notice that it will begin to melt a little, but as long as you
return the tart case to the oven straight away to bake through fully, the cracks
will seal. Then you can continue with the recipe and fill the case as usual.
As it is the simplest of the three doughs to make its worth giving rough puff a
go before trying the other two so that you can get a handle on the folding.
300ml water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Combine the flour and butter in a large bowl. Using your fingertips, rub the
butter and flour together, but stop when only half the butter is incorporated.
You should still see large pieces of butter.
Add half the water and stir to a rough mixture, then add the remaining water
in batches until you have a dough that will come together easily without being
too sticky. Form into a rough ball and turn this out onto a lightly floured
worktop.
Roll out the dough, away from you, into a long rectangle 20 60cms. Divide
it into three sections, marking with a table knife but not cutting it. Fold the top
third down over the middle third, then fold the bottom third up over this,
creating a square pastry sandwich. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
Place the pastry square on the worktop so that the folded ends are to the left
and right. Roll out again into a long rectangle and repeat the folding. Wrap in
cling film and chill, then repeat the rolling and folding process once more, to
make a total of three times. Wrap and chill the pastry again for at least an hour
before using.
PUFF PASTRY
Makes 1kg
400g strong plain flour
1 tsp fine salt
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp lemon juice
200250ml cold water
350g unsalted butter, chilled
Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and add 50g butter and rub it
into the flour until there are no lumps remaining.
Add the lemon juice to 200ml cold water and add this to the flour mixture in
stages, mixing the dough with a large fork. If necessary, add additional water to
bring the mixture together to form a smooth, but not sticky, ball of dough. Place
the dough in the fridge, wrapped in cling film, to chill and relax for 30 minutes.
Once the dough has rested, prepare the butter slab you are going to
incorporate into the dough: sandwich the 350g chilled butter between two
sheets of cling film or baking paper on a work surface and, using a rolling pin,
beat the butter into a 15cm square. Keep this at cool room temperature while
you move onto the next stage.
Scatter your work surface with a little plain flour and place your ball of dough
on it. Flatten the ball slightly, and cut a cross in the top. Pull the four flaps of
dough apart, flattening them back to form a rough square. Lightly flour the
dough and roll it out to a 3035cm square. Use a pastry brush to remove any
excess flour from the surface and place the block of butter on the dough.
Fold the flaps of dough over the block of butter so that it is completely
enclosed, making sure that the seams are completely sealed, then turn the
dough over. Dust the dough lightly with flour and roll it out into a rectangle
approximately 15cm wide and 45cm long. Divide it into three sections, marking
with a table knife but not cutting it. Fold the top third down over the middle
third, then fold the bottom third up over this, creating a square pastry sandwich.
Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
Place the pastry square on the worktop so that the folded ends are to the left
and right. Roll out again into a long rectangle and repeat the folding. Chill, then
repeat the rolling and folding process a further four times, to make a total of six
times. Chill the pastry again for at least an hour before using.
Flaky pastry
Rather than forming a slab of butter as you do for puff pastry, divide the 350g of
butter into three equal portions. Once your ball of dough has been made and
chilled, roll the dough into a 15 45cm rectangle. Divide the dough into three
sections and dot one portion of butter (cut into small flakes) onto the top two
thirds. Fold the bottom third over the central third and fold the top third back
over the central, so that you have three layers of dough and two layers of butter.
Chill the dough, wrapped in cling film, for 30 minutes and then roll it out again
to another 15 45cm rectangle. Dot the butter onto the dough again, roll and
fold as before, and chill. Repeat with the final piece of butter. Then, chill the
dough for 30 minutes, and repeat the action of rolling the dough and folding a
further three times (without butter) to complete the process, chilling for 30
minutes between each rolling.
brioche-style dough of the kipferl into the light puff pastry we know today.
CROISSANTS
This recipe is made over two days. The evening before you bake, make a simple
dough and allow it to rise overnight in the fridge. The following morning, layer
the dough with butter, then roll, shape and bake.
The temperature at which the croissants prove, or finish rising, is key to their
success. A warm room temperature of 2325C/7377F is ideal: the butter
will be soft enough to allow the yeasted dough to rise, but not so warm that it
melts out and ruins the recipe. Fast-action yeast is not suitable for this recipe.
Makes 1618 croissants
1 tablespoon milk powder
250g strong plain flour
250g plain flour
30g caster sugar
10g fine salt
350g unsalted butter
20g fresh or dried yeast, not fast action
300ml cold water
beaten egg, for glazing
23 baking sheets, lined with baking paper
Mix together the milk powder, flours, sugar and salt in a large bowl with 50g
of the butter, and rub this in until there are no lumps of butter remaining. Cream
together the yeast and a little of the cold water in a jug; when it is softened, add
the rest of the water. Add to the flour mixture and combine to form a smooth
dough do not knead the dough any more than is necessary to mix it. Cover
with a clean cloth and leave at room temperature to rise for 30 minutes.
Punch the dough to knock out any gas, then cover the bowl with cling film.
Place in the fridge to rise overnight.
The next morning, shape the remaining 300g butter into a square pat about
2cm thick. Keep the butter at a cool room temperature so it will be easier to roll
out.
Remove the dough from the fridge and form into a smooth ball. Set it on a
lightly floured worktop. Use a sharp knife to cut a deep cross in the ball. Sprinkle
your hands with a little flour, then fold the four flaps of dough outwards to make
a rough diamond. Roll out each flap so that the square of butter can be fitted
into the centre of the dough. Fold the dough over the butter and seal the edges
together with your fingers so that no butter is visible.
Now, you need to roll and fold the dough. Turn the dough over so that the
sealed edges are underneath. Using minimal flour, roll out the square of dough
away from you into a long rectangle roughly 20 60cm. Brush the surface with
a pastry brush to remove excess flour, then fold the bottom third of the dough
up over the middle third. Fold the top third down so that you now have three
layers of dough. Try at all times to ensure that you have a neat, even square.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured tray and chill for 30 minutes to rest.
Repeat the rolling out and folding process two more times, ensuring that you
rest the dough thoroughly between each rolling.
Roll out the dough to a rectangle 40 75cm. You will find that the dough is
very elastic, so allow it time to relax as you roll. Even a rest of 1 minute will
enable you to roll the dough thinner.
Trim the edges of the dough rectangle, then cut the sheet in half lengthways
to make two long thin rectangles. Brush the dough to remove any excess flour.
Cut the rectangles into long triangles, each with a base of about 15cm.
Roll up each triangle from its base towards the tip. Place on the baking sheets
and curve the ends inwards to make a crescent shape. Once all the croissants
are shaped, allow them to prove for 1 2 hours at a warm room temperature
(do not place them near a direct source of heat or they will rise unevenly and you
run the risk of the butter melting out from the dough).
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas 7. Bake the croissants for 1215
minutes until risen and well browned. Cool on a wire rack.
CHOUX PASTRY
Makes 3040 choux buns suitable for profiteroles
100g unsalted butter, cubed
teaspoon sugar
150g plain flour, sifted
4 medium eggs (240ml cracked weight)
Combine the butter, sugar and 250ml water in a medium saucepan over a
medium heat. Allow the butter to melt, then increase the heat to high and bring
the mixture to the boil.
Add the flour to the boiling mixture and draw the pan to one side. Stir with a
clean wooden spoon until the flour is fully incorporated. Return the pan to low
heat and stir the ball of dough for a couple of minutes so that it dries slightly.
Transfer the dough to the bowl of a large freestanding electric mixer (or, if
using a hand-held mixer, place in a large mixing bowl set on a cloth to stop it
sliding about). Break the eggs into a separate bowl and beat them together
lightly.
Start beating the dough. Add batches of the egg, thoroughly mixing in each
addition before adding the next. At this stage, lots of air can be incorporated into
the mixture, so dont stint on the beating. When fully mixed, the paste should be
glossy and soft enough to just fall from a wooden spoon.
Use immediately, or cover and keep in the fridge for up to 1 day. If you do
keep the dough, you may find you have to beat it slightly before using, to make
piping easier.
Simply thaw the buns, spread out on a baking tray, and crisp up for 5 minutes in
an oven preheated to 200C/400F/gas 6 before cooling again and filling.
When compared with cakes, biscuits, pastries and breads, desserts are fairly
recent additions to our recipe repertoire, yet they have become the
showstopper finale to a memorable meal.
A trio of simple ingredients eggs, milk and cream can be whipped and heated
into a glorious alchemy of flavours, but the techniques involved must be applied
precisely. Dont be put off this chapter will show you how to avoid a cracked
cheesecake, grainy custard or a collapsing crme caramel. And once you have
confidence in whisking egg whites accurately, you can create light-as-air
meringues than can be transformed into striking desserts.
The building blocks shared here will give you a base on which to build much
more extravagant desserts just add fruit, chocolate or sauces until you have
created something truly impressive.
black and white pudding and the Scotch haggis. You can see the connection if
you trace the etymology of the word pudding it came from the Latin botellus,
meaning sausage, which is also the root of the French word boudin (a type of
blood sausage). These puddings were enclosed in a sausage skin or stomach
lining, or even pastry, and baked slowly in a warm oven.
What is a custard?
The word custard derives from the French word croustade, which was used to
describe an empty pastry case, prior to being filled, most usually with a custardlike mixture, as it is in a quiche. Custard can take many different forms, but at its
most basic it is a mixture of eggs and milk which is heated to thicken it.
Understanding custard and, above all, being able to able to make a good
custard, is an important skill for any baker as it crops up in so many areas of
baking both in savoury and sweet guises.
Custard features heavily in dessert making, where it can be baked to create
the dessert itself, as in crme brle and crme caramel (see here), or simply
used to help build a dessert, as it is in a trifle. Ice creams are very often made
with a custard rather than a cream base as the emulsion of eggs and milk is
better suited to creating a smooth texture when the mixture is frozen, And in
Britain, custard can also be made as a thick or runny sauce to accompany
desserts and tarts.
In pastry making, custard is further thickened with flour to make crme
patissire (pastry cream), which can be used to fill sweet tarts, clairs and choux
buns or items of viennoiserie (see here for a pastry cream recipe).
And if that werent enough, we can even use custard to decorate and fill our
cakes as the French also created a buttercream out of crme patissire (see here
for French buttercream recipe).
CREAMY DESSERTS
Like many other custard-based desserts, crme brle and crme caramel are
both baked in a bain marie (a water bath). This technique prevents the custard
from getting too hot, as the water acts as an insulating barrier and keeps the
custard away from the heat source. If the custard were to get too hot, the water
in it would begin to convert to steam, which would cause the custard to rise up
like a souffl and split around the edges. Similarly, if the eggs and milk get too
hot, they may curdle.
You dont need any special equipment, a roasting tin with handles at the two
ends is a good receptacle to use for your bain marie, so that you risk boiling
water sloshing over the edge of the tin and scalding your hands as you transfer
the tin in and out of the oven. Place the ramekins or baking dish in the roasting
tin and then pour in hot water to come a third of the way up the sides of the dish
or dishes (any higher than this and they might float and bump about).
Baked custard recipes will generally suggest cooling the dish or ramekins on a
wire rack. Dont be tempted to skip this as the custard will inevitably continue to
cook after its removed from the oven, but the racks will help to minimize this
and prevent your custard from being overcooked.
Why are some cheesecakes baked and others not whats the
difference?
Cheesecakes fall into two main categories: baked and chilled. Baked
cheesecakes rely on eggs, or egg yolks, to set the mixture to a rich thick cream,
solid enough to be sliced; while chilled cheesecakes usually contain few if any
eggs, and are more mousse-like and fresh, using gelatine as a setting agent.
Baked cheesecakes, or tarts, are very common in British baking history. They
include the Yorkshire curd tart, a simple, soft fresh curd tart baked in a pastry
case and traditionally made with the curds left over from cheese-making.
American cheesecakes derive their thick, rich texture from the sweet creamy
cheese used in the filling. If the origins of your cheesecake recipe lie in the
Jewish immigrant neighbourhoods of New York, it is likely to use cream cheese
as well as soured cream; if it originated in Italian districts, it is more likely to use
SOUFFLS
sugar. Tip out any excess sugar. Once sugared, the channels of butter will help
the souffl to rise.
Finally, brush a little more butter around the rim of the dish but do not sugar
this. Then chill the dishes before filling this way you wont disrupt the butter
layer when you spoon in the souffl mixture.
You can also run a fingernail or the tip of a knife around the rim of the dish
just before baking the souffl.
WHISKING EGGS
oil (this includes egg yolk) will stop the egg whites forming a foam. The fat will
prevent the protein strands reforming around the air bubbles. So, when
separating an egg, make sure that you do not break the yolk into the whites. If
you do, remove all specks of yolk before whisking the whites to a foam.
The equipment you use is also crucial to success. Copper or silver bowls have
traditionally been used because these metals help to prevent the egg whites
from overwhisking. Nowadays, porcelain or glass bowls are more practical and
work best because they are easy to clean thoroughly; plastic bowls are often
very difficult to get spotlessly clean.
can add the same number of egg yolks as whites and use this whole egg mixture
for another recipe.
Cooked meringue often called chefs meringue because its very firm but still
flexible and ideal for hot souffls is made by whisking the egg whites and sugar
in a bowl over hot water to give a huge mass of meringue.
COCOA MACAROONS
Makes about 30 unfilled shells
120g dried ground almonds (see here for how to dry almonds)
170g icing sugar
5 level teaspoons cocoa powder
95g egg whites approximately 3 medium egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 piping bag, fitted with a 1012mm plain nozzle;
3 baking sheets, lined with baking paper
Sift together the ground almonds, icing sugar and cocoa twice, to combine
evenly. Discard any large pieces of almond that remain.
Put the egg whites in a large bowl, add the cream of tartar and beat using a
hand whisk for 20 strokes until they are just frothy. Add the caster sugar and
continue to whisk until you have soft peaks. Tip in the almond mixture and fold
in gently using a large metal spoon.
Transfer the mixture to the piping bag. Pipe flat discs of mixture
approximately 2.53cm in diameter onto the lined baking sheets, spacing them
1cm apart. Lightly bang the sheet on your worksurface to flatten the macaroons
a little. Set the baking sheets in a warm dry place and leave until the surface of
each macaroon has a dry skin (see here). This can take between 30 minutes and
1 hours, depending on the relative humidity of your kitchen. Keep checking
using your fingertip if it sticks to the macaroons, they are not ready.
When the macaroons have set, preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas 2.
Bake for 18 minutes in a conventional oven. If using a fan oven, bake for 15
minutes until the meringues are risen and a shade darker.
Remove the baking sheets from the oven and allow the macaroons to cool for
15 minutes before removing them from the sheets to a wire rack. Leave to cool
fully before sandwiching with either a fruit preserve or a flavoured buttercream.
The macaroons can be kept unfilled in an airtight box, layered between sheets of
baking paper, for up to 2 days.
Pipe discs approximately 23cm in diameter onto the lined baking sheets,
spacing them 1cm apart. Gently bang each baking sheet a few times on your
worksurface to make the macaroons flatten a little.
Leave the macaroons at warm room temperature to set and form a skin (see
here) this will take between 30 minutes and 1 hours, depending on the
humidity of your kitchen. Once they have, preheat the oven to
150C/300F/gas 2 and bake the macaroons for 18 minutes in a conventional
oven and 15 minutes in a fan oven. The macaroons are ready when they have
risen and a shade darker.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheets
before transferring to a wire rack. Cool completely before sandwiching. The
macaroons can be kept unfilled in an airtight box, layered between sheets of
baking paper, for up to 2 days.
In this last chapter, we focus on the key, classic ingredients: sugar, cream,
vanilla and chocolate. Where would the baker be without them?
These ingredients will transform a bake, bringing flavour and texture, richness
and aroma to your recipe. Think of how dull a choux bun would be, without a
cream filling and chocolate topping, and how it is transformed into an elegant
croquembouche with the small additions of caramel and vanilla cream. Sugar
may be a basic baking ingredient now, but for many centuries honey was the
only sweet flavouring (other than fruit) available to British bakers. Yet from the
late-fifteenth century sugar transformed European baking into an elaborate and
elegant art form, as bakers realized its full potential in crystal and melted form.
Cream, too, has the power to enhance both sweet and savoury cooking,
providing it with a touch of luxury. The simple act of whipping cream can
completely change its form and opens up an array of ways to use it: from
sandwiching a sponge cake and filling a roulade, to combining it with chocolate
to make a luxurious ganache.
Chocolate is, of course, a vital and increasingly popular ingredient in baking but
it does need to be handled with care. By finding out where chocolate comes
from, how it is produced and what makes up the properties of the different
types of chocolate available, youll understand how best to use it in your bakes
to make them as delicious as the bar itself.
SUGAR
then either be left as it is, as a brown unrefined sugar, or further refined (see
next question).
sprinkled on top of the mixture before it is baked because the size of the crystals
prevents the sugar from melting.
Barbados sugar, also sometimes called molasses sugar, is the coarsest and
darkest of the unrefined sugars, with a sticky quality that makes it excellent for
making gingerbread and dark fruit cakes.
Muscovado is a similarly dark unrefined sugar, which some argue derives its
name from the Spanish for, more finished, suggesting that the sugar is slightly
more refined than Barbados sugar. Muscovado is available in dark and light
forms according to the amount of molasses each contains (dark is about 13 per
cent molasses and light about 6 per cent). The dark form has the richest taste
and strongest aroma and, like molasses sugar, is used in darker fruit cakes and
puddings.
What is caramel?
Caramel is melted and browned sugar. But while sugar can be heated in a dry
pan to melt it, it is more often dissolved in water first to make caramel.
Dissolving the sugar in water means that the melted sugar can be subjected to
greater temperatures.
Sugar syrup passes through different stages during heating on its way to
becoming caramel and each occurs within a specific temperature range. These
stages of sugar syrup have different uses, as shown in the table below.
When the sugar dissolves and the syrup boils the water evaporates. The more
the water is evaporated, the greater the concentration of sugar and the thicker
the syrup becomes, until it reaches saturation point. The more concentrated the
syrup, the less moisture it will have, which means it will set harder.
A sugar thermometer will help you to make sure you take the pan off the heat at
the correct moment. Once the caramel reaches your desired temperature, dip
the base of the pan into cold water to stop the caramel overheating.
that seems to be more stable for longer. Simply add 1 tablespoon of golden
syrup for each 100g caster sugar in your recipe then make the caramel as usual.
What is praline?
Popular for centuries in France, praline was originally a sweet made by coating
whole almonds in grainy caramel. Today it can describe any mixture of nuts
(though it is still most usually almonds) cooked in clear caramel, then cooled.
Once set hard, the praline is either ground and added to sweet dishes or broken
into pieces for use as a decoration.
There are also lower fat versions available but they generally arent suitable for
use in baking as they are often thickened with gums and react differently to
being heated.
Cream in other countries also varies in both name and fat content so be
sure to check carefully if you are following an American or French recipe, for
example.
CLOTTED CREAM
Makes 250300g
600ml double cream
300ml milk
Combine the cream and milk in a large, shallow nonreactive pan, such as
stainless steel, and cover with a clean cloth. Leave at room temperature
overnight.
The next day, set the pan on the lowest possible heat. Do not stir.
After about 1 hour, cream will begin to rise to the surface. As it starts to
solidify, use a large spoon or shallow ladle to skim the cream off the top.
Transfer it to a shallow dish, keeping the skin uppermost (this is the key to
developing the yellow-crusted surface that is essential for clotted cream).
Continue to skim off the cream as it rises. Eventually you will have skimmed
all the fat from the mixture. Allow the cream you have collected to set overnight
in the fridge, covered with cling film. This can be stored for up to five days.
A butter icing is a very simple, quick icing made from beaten butter and icing
sugar. It can contain added milk to give a looser, creamier texture, plus
flavourings. Used to sandwich and top sponges and fairy cakes, butter icing is
much thicker and not as creamy as buttercream, but is a handy recipe to have on
standby if you need to finish a cake in a hurry.
To ice 24 fairy cakes or 12 cupcakes, or to sandwich and top one 20cm
sponge cake, beat 125g unsalted butter with 400g sifted icing sugar and 34
tablespoons of milk.
25g cornflour
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
Place 4 tablespoons of the milk in a medium bowl and set to one side. Pour
the remaining milk into a medium saucepan set over a medium heat and add the
caster sugar and vanilla pod. Heat the mixture until it begins to steam, then
leave to infuse off the heat for 10 minutes.
Remove the vanilla pod, scraping the seeds into the pan (if you wash and dry
the pod you can place it in a jar of caster sugar to flavour the sugar see here).
Put the pan of flavoured milk back on the heat and bring to a gentle simmer.
Meanwhile, mix the cornflour with the reserved cold milk. When the
flavoured milk simmers, pour it onto the cornflour mixture and stir to combine.
Return the mixture to the pan and simmer over low heat for 23 minutes so that
the cornflour cooks through, stirring constantly.
Remove the pan from the heat and pour the mixture into a clean bowl. Place a
clean cloth over the bowl to prevent a skin from forming, then leave to cool
completely.
Beat the cold vanilla mixture to lighten it, then sieve to remove any lumps. In a
separate bowl, beat the soft butter to lighten it. Add the vanilla mixture in small
quantities, beating well with each addition. The buttercream can now be used.
whites and lemon juice, which sets to a hard finish once dried. If you want to
avoid using raw egg whites, you can use royal icing sugar instead. This contains
dried egg whites. Royal icing can be used to cover cakes, for piping work and for
decorating biscuits. You can control how hard your royal icing will set by adding
a little glycerine: teaspoon of glycerine per 500g icing sugar will create an
icing that can be used to cover a cake but it wont be rock hard.
Fondant icing is made from icing sugar, water and liquid glucose, mixed to a
soft dough that can be rolled out to cover a cake or make decorations. You can
buy it ready-made, or you buy fondant icing sugar, which is made from icing
sugar and dried glucose syrup. Mixed with water or juice it makes a glossy, satin
icing that is more substantial than glac icing and can be used to coat cakes or
be made into modelling paste for sugar craft. Blocks of fondant modelling icing,
also called ready-roll or sugar-paste icing, are now widely available to buy in a
range of colours.
VANILLA
Vanilla paste, which is the scraped-out inside of a vanilla pod, is another good
option.
PASTRY CREAM
The combination of plain and corn flour used here, gives a lighter texture to the
finished pastry cream than if you had used plain flour only.
Makes approximately 650ml
500ml full-fat milk
125g vanilla sugar
1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthways
6 egg yolks
20g plain flour
20g cornflour
First, infuse the milk with vanilla. Place the milk, half the sugar and the vanilla
pod in a medium saucepan set over low heat and heat gently until the milk
begins to steam. Set aside for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix the egg yolks with the remaining sugar in a medium bowl and
beat well until the mixture is light. Sift in the flour and stir well so that there are
no lumps.
When the milk has infused, strain it through a sieve into a clean pan and heat
over medium heat until it begins to simmer. Pour the hot milk over the egg
mixture, whisking to combine them well.
Pour back into the pan and bring to a simmer, stirring all the time with a clean
wooden spoon. The cream then needs to boil for 23 minutes to thicken and
lose any taste of the flour. Transfer to a clean bowl and leave to cool completely
before refrigerating. Use the cream when cold, beating to loosen it a little. You
can store this in the fridge for up to 4 days, keeping the cream well covered at all
times so it does not absorb any flavours.
If pastry cream is not fully cooked it will collapse sometimes with disastrous
effect. The egg yolks in the mix contain an enzyme that can liquefy the cream, so
it is essential to cook it sufficiently as heating the enzyme changes its shape and
thus its properties, making the pastry cream more stable. Boiling it for 23
minutes should do the trick.
CRME ANGLAISE
The method described here is slightly different to the one generally used for
making custards. It is included because it is faster: heating the flavoured milk
and cream mixture to a simmer and then pouring it onto the egg yolks while
stirring instantly cooks the yolks and thickens the custard.
Makes approximately 600ml
300ml milk
200ml single cream
120g caster sugar
2 vanilla pods, split in half lengthways
7 egg yolks
Place the milk, cream and half the caster sugar in a medium saucepan set over
low to medium heat. Add the vanilla pods and bring the mixture to a simmer,
stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and set aside to infuse for 1015
minutes.
Meanwhile, get ready a clean, large bowl with a sieve set in it.
Beat the egg yolks lightly in another large bowl. Add the remaining sugar and
beat well until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Return the pan containing the milk mixture to a high heat and bring to the
boil, stirring often. When it rises up the pan, pour it slowly onto the egg yolk
mixture, stirring constantly. Then pour the combined mixture through the sieve
into the clean bowl. The heat of the milk should have cooked the egg yolks to the
required degree.
If not, and the custard is still thin and runny, return the custard to the pan and
stir it over a very low heat until it will thickly coat the back of a spoon.
CHOCOLATE
tropical bees.
isnt just about a higher cocoa percentage. A balance must be struck between
cocoa content and flavour, which is arguably released more fully in the presence
of some sugar. The higher the percentage of cocoa solids, the lower the
percentage of sugar and so the more bitter or bittersweet the chocolate will be.
Certainly chocolate that is 100 per cent cocoa solids is far too bitter to eat its
best used only for recipes that call for that very strong flavour, for example, in
northern Italy, where it is commonly used to enrich game dishes.
There are legal definitions of the different types of chocolate, based on the
percentage of cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar they contain:
sugar percentage) will mix more easily and create a looser mixture when
incorporated with other ingredients. If you want to substitute one type of
chocolate for another you may find that you also need to adapt the sugar
quantity accordingly.
These enable it to be made into a drink more quickly than with plain cocoa, but
they mean its not suitable for baking.
What is couverture?
Chocolates sold for use in cooking, baking and pastry work are usually labelled
with both the total percentage of cocoa and the word couverture or the
percentage of cocoa butter.
Couverture (from the French word meaning coating) is a term used by
chocolatiers to denote a chocolate that is made with between 32 and 39 per
cent cocoa butter. The higher the cocoa butter content, the more liquid and
pliable the chocolate will be when melted, and the easier it will be to mould into
thin sheets for covering a dessert or mixing with other ingredients.
Place chopped chocolate into a large mixing bowl and heat gently, either over
a pan of warm water or in a microwave until it melts and reaches 50C/122F
(45C/113F for white chocolate).
Pour most of the chocolate into a clean bowl and stir it until it cools to 26C,
then return the chocolate to the original bowl and heat to 32C/89.6F
(28C/82.4F for white chocolate), before cooling again.
It is also possible to very gently melt chocolate so that its temperature reaches
31C/87.8F but does not exceed 32C/89.6F. Within this range, unstable
crystals of cocoa butter will melt and, when the mixture cools, will be
transformed into stable crystals. As you can imagine, this is difficult to do at
home without the strict temperature control of a tempering machine, although
small versions are available for the home baker.
What is ganache?
Ganache is a mixture of chocolate and cream thats used to make chocolate
truffles or as a topping and filling for gteaux. Ganache mixtures can also
contain butter, which gives them a thicker, more luxurious texture.
You can make a simple ganache either by melting chocolate and folding it into
whipped cream (this is not for the faint-hearted as the chocolate will begin to set
instantly), or by melting chocolate in hot cream before cooling and then
whipping to incorporate air. The key to success with this second method is not
to overheat the chocolate in the cream. Chop the chocolate finely so that it will
melt quickly, then add it to warm cream off the heat and allow the chocolate to
melt slowly without overworking the cream by beating too hard, which may
cause the chocolate to seize.
Because of its acidity, chocolate made from Criollo beans (see here) can split
or curdle hot cream, causing the liquids to separate from the solids. So if you are
making ganache with Criollo chocolate, take care not to heat the cream above
body temperature.
For a ganache that is soft at room temperature, mix chocolate and cream in
proportions of 1:1 (e.g. 100g of chocolate to 100ml cream). This consistency
makes a lovely coating for a cream and berry-filled chocolate sponge.
For a firmer ganache, which will be more stable, use a higher proportion of
chocolate, in a ratio up to 2:1. Use this for desserts such as brownies or to make
simple truffles rolled in crushed ginger biscuits.
INDEX
The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which
this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please
use the search feature of your ebook reader.
A
angel food cake 3940
B
bain marie 1523, 159
baking beans 128
baking powder 11, 2831
gluten and 31
home made 30
scones 100, 101
baklava 107
baps 74
Bara Brith 1214
barley flour 61, 66
barm 71
bicarbonate of soda 29, 31
biscuits 519
or cookies 523
melted 53
origins of 512
rescuing soft biscuits 55
bread 60103
adulterated flour 623
baking process 826
crustier loaf 85
early breads 623
no-knead bread 757
perfect crumb 86
stale bread 867
storage 867
sweet breads 96100
white bread 724
wholemeal bread 667
see also dough
brioche 97
buns 96100
butter 109, 111
butter icing 189
buttercream 18993
C
cake-making methods
all-in-one 256
creaming 26
melting 27
rubbing-in 27
trouble shooting 4250
whisking 267
cakes 1050
made with strong flour 41
origins of 1012
without fat 3940
caramel 173, 17782
cheesecakes
baked 1536
bases 1545
chilled 153
chocolate 173
baking with 2067, 208211
cake coverings (commercial) 212
couverture 21316
drinking chocolate 208
fillings and flavourings 21217
in Italian meringue buttercream 192
origin and history 2013
percentage of cocoa solids 2057
types and flavours 204
white chocolate 206, 21112
chocolate roulades, flourless 209211
chocolate souffls 160
choux pastry 1425
Christmas cakes 24
cocoa butter 201
cocoa macaroons 1679
cocoa powder 207210
gluten-free 67
keeping power of 68
and pastry making 114
protein in 64
see also self-raising flour
fondant icing 194
food processors, pastry making and 119
French vanilla buttercream 19091
fruit cakes 214
boiled 223
sugar free 378
G
ganache 21617
gingernuts 534
glac icing 193
gluten
baking powder and 31
bread flours and 41, 656
cocoa powder and 207
pastries 114, 120
gooseberry pie 1224
Grant loaf 757
H
honey 11, 110, 173
used instead of sugar 183
I
icing sugar 1934
Italian meringue buttercream 1912
L
leavening see baking powder; yeast
Lindt, chocolate 203
M
macaroons 16671
cocoa macaroons 1679
Italian meringue macaroons 16971
see also meringues
manchet loaves 62
maple syrup 1834
margarine 11213
Massialot, Franois, recipe for meringues 1634
meringues 1636
Italian meringues 164
see also macaroons milk bread 74
mousse 161, 162, 163
O
oat flour 61
olive oil, pastry 109110, 116
P
pastry 104145
blind baking 1289
early pastry 1068
freezing 121
hot water crust 11617
laminated dough 1328
olive oil 109110, 116
savoury pastry 106
shortcrust 11415, 11826
sweet pastry 1078, 1246
see also puff pastry; Viennoiserie
pastry cream 1979
pastry making
chilling the pastry 11920, 126
creaming method 125
fats 109111
rolling out 126
techniques 11445
pavlova 147
pies 105, 1214
fillings 1212
pie crusts 122
pound cake 1519
praline 182
puddings, defined 149
puff pastry 107, 114, 1212, 132, 133, 1357
book and double-book folds 138
Italian meringue
buttercream 1923
vanilla cream 173
Viennoiserie 108
see also pastry; puff pastry
Y
yeast
in breadmaking 61, 6974
brewers yeast 712
in cakes 1014
dried and fast-action 7071
sourdough and 88
sourdough starters 8993
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Version 1.0
Epub ISBN 9781448141111
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Published in 2013 by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing.
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Text Love Productions 2013
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