Sticky Buns - Bread Challenge No.15

So a month ago I set myself a challenge of completing 15 or more different bread recipes with the finishing date set at 11th April and hey, guess what, that's today!!
My former employer used to despair of me as I wasnt as organised as him and his wife and I remember him one day saying to me "you always deliver but it always at the 11th hour". To me so long as I deliver what does it matter that it's at the 11th hour? So that's what I'm doing today, delivering to you challenge number 15 at the 11th hour!!!!!
It's been a great challenge. I wouldnt say I'm a master at bread making but I have a much better understanding now of :
How yeast works,
Why it's important that the fluid added to the dry ingredients is lukewarm,
Allowing time for the dough to rise
Punching the risen dough to disperse the air
And, especially, use some decent strong flour and not a cheaper version!!!!

I'm sure I learnt much more but they are my main things and now I'm delighted to share with you my final challenge of Sticky Buns, the recipe of which came from  The Great British Bake Off cookbook. I am dieting at the moment so had to resist temptation of eating a whole bun but the litttle bite I had was delicious.
So here goes, the final bread challenge recipe.
Ingredients:
200ml Milk
75g Butter
500g Strong white Bread Flour
1 Tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Caster Sugar
1 Egg
1x 7g Sachet fast Action Yeast
For The Filling:
50g Butter
75g Light Brown Muscavado Sugar
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
For The Topping:
100g butter, softened
75g Light Brown Muscavado Sugar
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
100g Walnut Pieces

Method:
Heat the milk and butter in a pan until the butter just melts, then remove from the heat to cool until lukewarm.
Mix the flour,salt,sugar and yeast in a bowl. Beat the egg into the milk/butter mixture then add to the dry ingredients and mix together to form a soft, but not sticky, dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10minutes until very smooth and pliable. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for about an hour to rise.

Punch down the dough then turn out onto a lightly floured work top and roll out to a rectangle about 24x48cm. Brush the melted butter over the dough. Mix the sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. Staring from one long edge, lightly roll up the dough like a swiss roll, then, using a sharp knife, cut across into 12 slices. (If you're wondering why I only have 6, I did half the recipe quantity to resist temptation of eating them all!!)

Slightly flatten each one gently with your palm.

For the topping, beat the butter,sugar and maple syrup until thoroughly combined. Spread the mixture evenly over the base of a greased baking tray. Scatter over the nuts and gently press in. Arrange the buns cut side up in the tin spaced evenly apart. Cover and leave til doubled in size.

Uncover and bake in a pre heated oven 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for 20-25 or until buns are golden brown and the caramel topping is bubbling around the sides. Leave for a couple of minutes (no longer) then carefully remove each one from the tray, and turn over and cool on a wire rack. Best eaten warm

So there you go the final Bread Challenge. Thanks for joining me. The next challenge is being carefully considered. Stay tuned!!

Breadsticks - Bread Challenge No. 14

Well here we go, it's the penultimate challenge and one I was determined to attempt before the end as it was different, though the process was basically the same as making a loaf. So glad I did as they taste lovely and worked well with our salad tea this evening!!!
Not much else to say!

Ingredients:
350g/12oz Strong Bread Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Sachet Fast Action Yeast
200ml/7floz Lukewarm Water
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
Method:
Put the flour,salt, yeast and oil in a bowl, Make a well and add the water and mix to form a dough. Knead well for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth. Leave in a bowl covered with clingfilm in a warm place for about an hour til risen.
When risen, punch down on the dough and transfer to the work surface. Knead for a couple of minutes then roll out into a rectangle. Cut into strips and roll and stretch each strip and place on a greased baking tray. Cover and leave again to double in size.
Bake for 10-15 mins at 200C

Wheat Tortillas - Bread Challenge No.13

I have been determined to make these for ages and with only a few hours left before completing the bread challenge I finally made them and they tasted good!!
Easy peasy too!
 Recipe below folks!

Ingredients:
250g/9oz Plain Flour
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
55g/2oz Lard or Butter
175ml/6floz Lukewam Water

Method :
Sieve the flour,baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cube the lard/butter and rub into the dry ingredients with your fingertips.

Ready To Rub In The Butter

Make a well in the centre, add the water and mix together to form a soft dough. Wrap in oiled clingfilm and leave to rest for half hour. 

'Dough Bal'

Unwrap from the clingfilm and divide into 6 equal portions. Roll each one out into as best a circle that you can and as thin as you can.

Rolling Out The Dough

Heat a heavy bottomed frying pan or griddle pan and brush with oil. Transfer one of the dough circles to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes, then turn to cook the other side. The dough will bubble and brown patches will appear.

Cooking In The Frying Pan

Remove and transfer to a cooling rack and cover with a tea towel to keep warm. Repeat the process with the other 5 circles.

Hot Tortillas Straight from the Pan

Spread with your favourite filling, roll up and serve as a snack or light lunch wrap.

Homemade Wrap With My favourite Filling

Mine was delicious!!!!!!!!

Seeded Loaf - Bread Challenge No. 10

 Happy Easter!
Yes the day finally crept up on us and, after losing an hours slept last night due to the clocks moving forward an hour, it was a very tired me in The Old Red Lion kitchen today cooking roast dinners. 
I didnt receive any Easter eggs today unfortuntely but I did get to open my Secret Easter Bunny gift that I received in the post yesterday as part of an online craft forum swap that I entered. My gift was made by someone that I have actually been in awe of for the past couple of years and her gift to me was these seriously cute bunnies that she made herself. Ros has a fantastic blog which is full of tutorials, her makes and a little bit of gossip!

Back to bread making!! This week we have started to make plans for a new menu for the summer months. One idea I had was mushroom pate as a starter. In the week I made a sample but, although it tasted lovely it needed to be eaten with something textured. We had some slightly stale, seeded loaf from the shop so we used that to experiment on taste and it really worked well together, so yesterday I attempted my own seeded loaf.

It came out BEAUTIFUL!! You must try this one it's a lovely taste and today, a day later, still was very soft and fresh tasting.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

375g Strong White Bread Flour

125g Strong Brown Bread Flour

1 1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar

1 Tsp Fast Action Dried Yeast

1 1/2 Tbsp Sunflour Oil

2 Tsp Lemon Juice

300ml Lukewarm Water

1 Tsp Poppy Seeds

1 Tsp Sesame Seeds

For The Topping

1 Egg White

1 Tbsp Water

1 Tbsp Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds Mixed

Method:

Put the flours,sugar,salt, yeast and seeds into a bowl.Add the oil,lemon juice and water and mix together to form a dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 10minutes or until the dough is soft and pliable. Return to your bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour..

When risen, punch down the dough to release the gas and knead for a couple more minutes and press into a large loaf tin and leave to rise again.When risen, mix the egg white and water and brush the top of the dough with it then gently press in the pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Bake in the oven about 20-25 minutes at 200C until golden brown.

Homemade seeded Loaf

Doesn't this look good!

Homemade Seeded Loaf

Beetroot Loaf - Bread Challenge No.8

I bet, reading this posts title, you're thinking exactly what I was thinking when Vicky gave me the recipe for Beetroot loaf from 'The Fabulous Baker Brothers' book 'Glorious British Grub' - WEIRD!
But hey, weird is good, especially when you are doing a bread challenge and want to have a go at as many recipes as you can.
In the book they create the dough to make small baps to serve their mackeral burgers in but I decided to just bake it in a loaf tin.
Look how pink it was before going in the oven!



We all got really excited as we watched the loaf cook in the oven but a bit dismayed when it turned a brown colour rather than the vibrant pink it had been before baking.

The dough was wetter than most of the others I've made and I think I should have possibly kneaded a little more flour in to dry out the dough slightly. The loaf was slightly undercooked when I took it out of the tin.

Tasted very sweet though and lovely.

Want to try it for yourself?   Here's the recipe below

Ingredients:

500g strong white flour

1 tsp salt

7g fast action dried yeast

handful chopped fresh thyme

1 tbsp honey

2 small cooked vacuum- packed beetroots, blended to a fine paste

300ml luke warm water

Method:

Place the flour,salt and yeast into a bowl. Add the beetroot,thyme, honey and water and mix to form a soft not sticky dough.

Knead for 10 minutes til soft and pliable. Place in a bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to rise.

When risen, punch down the dough, remove from the bowl and knead lightly for couple of minutes then place in an oiled loaf tin.

Leave to rise again then bake in a preheated oven 180C for about 20 minutes.

Beetroot Loaf

Hot Cross Buns - Challenge No. 7

So with Easter upon us tomorrow I thought my next challenge needed to be Hot Cross Buns.
A Hot Cross Bun is a sweet,spiced bun made with mixed fruit and marked with a cross on the top. Traditional they are to be eaten on Good Friday.
Nowadays major supermarkets stock a variety of different taste variations such as toffee, orange & cranberry, and apple & cinnamon.
I always wondered what the cross on top was made from and have found out today that it's traditionally shortcrust pastry though mostly nowdays a paste made from flour and water.
As with all the bread recipes it's a long process  making the buns because of the rising times.
I've cooked at home today and my cooker was far too hot despite setting the temperature lower than the recipe said, so, gutted that the outside got slightly overcooked whilst the inside was underdone. But I lowered the temperature as soon as I realised and though disappointed they were still enjoyed by all at home!

Todays recipe comes from The BBC - Food - Recipes site so instead of me writing it all out here's the link and below are a couple of photos (new camera definately on my christmas list this year! Excuse the quality of the images!)

So after putting all the ingredients together, and kneading til smooth, put your dough in a bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place.

Several cups of tea later punch down your dough and divide into 12 equal mounts. Roll into balls, flatten slightly and place on a greased baking tray. Make your paste with the flour and water and pipe a cross on the top. I made 2 pastes as the first ran out. Think my 2nd paste had a better effect after cooking as it was slightly runnier than the first.

Bake in the oven 8 - 12 mins. As I said earlier my fan oven was far too hot despite me reducing the temperature to 200C. For me 170C would have been the best temperature I think.
Brush with melted golden syrup straight from the oven.

Hot Cross Buns

Lovely hot with soft, melting butter

Focaccia - Bread Challenge No 6

As I reach number 6 of my dough challenge I would firstly like to thank my bosses Ben Aveling and Vicky Rogers for being so supportive,interested and encouraging for what I am doing and secondly would very much like to welcome any new reader who has found their way here via The Old Red Lion or Radmore farm Shop facebook and twitter feed. I hope that you enjoy the read, attempt the recipe or even just pop along to the pub and enjoy the taste of traditional homemade bread.
So today let's talk Focaccia!
Focaccia - a light Italian flatbread made from a soft dough and flavoured with olive oil.
 It had been my intention to attempt this bread nearer the end of my challenge as I thought it was a more complex dough to make but, having completed the challenge successfully today, I concur that it wasnt any harder than my previous challenges and that it is truly a gorgeous soft bread if eaten fresh from the oven.
Ingredients:
500g Strong White Bread Flour
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 1/2 Tsp Fast Action Yeast
1-2 Tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Rosemary Sprigs
6 Tbsp Olive Oil
300ml Lukewarm Water

1 Green Pepper
8 Sun-Dried Tomato halves
4 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 clove garlic
Sea Salt Flakes & Freshly Ground Black Pepper.
A few sprigs Rosemary.

Method:
Combine the flour,salt and yeast in a bowl. Stir in the chopped rosemary and add the oil. Mix in enough of the lukewarm water to form a soft and slightly sticky dough. Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and pliable - usually about 10 minutes. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn over so it's coated in oil. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for about an hour in a warm area.
While the dough is rising prepare the topping.
Deseed the pepper and cut into 2cm chunks. Put into a mixing bowl with 2tbsp olive oil and stir round until coated. Heat a frying pan and chargrill the pepper over a high heat until speckled with dark-brown patches. Put back into the bowl, add the crushed garlic and a little salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Roughly chop the sun-dried tomatoes.
When the dough has risen punch down into it to deflate and disperse the gas. Turn the dough onto an oiled baking tray, press and shape into a rough square with your hands. Press your fingers into the dough to make dimples.

Poke fresh rosemary sprigs into these dimples, scatter the tomatoes over and top with the pepper mixture. Leave to rise for a further 20 minutes and turn on your oven to preheat to 220C/425F/gas7.
When risen, drizzle the rest of the olive oil over the top and season with salt and pepper and put in the oven.

Bake for 10mins,then reduce the temperature to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and cook for a further 15mins until the edges and base are a good golden brown.

Best served warm and certainly a big hit amongst the staff and customers last night! A lovely soft and tasty bread.

Green Pepper and Sun-Dried Tomato Focaccia

Homemade Pizza - The Bread Challenge No.2

Friday night is pizza night at The Old Red Lion, Litchborough.
 It's quite an original concept, I think, and we make them entirely from scratch, and to order, with several different toppings to choose from.
So this is number 2 of my bread challenge.
Have made the pizza dough twice now. Not quite sure if truely mastered it yet but tastes and looks good when cooked!
Very difficult to roll out as shrinks back each time like elastic. I need to learn to throw it around maybe to stretch it like the professionals!
So here's the recipe for the dough. I think it is a Jamie Oliver recipe but don't quote me on that. I can usually get 6 or 7 large bases from the recipe and have found it freezes well too if you don't use it all.

Ingredients:
800g Strong White Bread Flour
1 Tbsp Salt
14g Easy Blend Yeast
1 Tbsp Sugar
4 Tbsp Olive Oil
650ml Lukewarm Water

Method:
Place all dry ingredients in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the olive oil and water and mix together to form a dough.
Knead the dough.( I find I have to add more flour to dry the dough out). Place in a bowl, cover, and leave to rise somewhere warm.

When you are ready to make your pizza, remove the dough from the bowl. Divide into balls and roll individually. Remember I said it will probably shrink back as you roll? Well I lift it up and stretch it in my hands then place on a baking sheet.




We buy in some lovely homemade tomato sauce which I spread a layer of over the base first. You can use normal ketchup or even tomato puree, your choice.
Now top with your favourites, your choice entirely!
The pizza below has peppers,onion,sweetcorn,choritzo,pepperoni and big handfuls of grated cheddar.
Place in the oven at about 180C for about 15minutes or until the dough is golden brown.

Serve immediately with salad and homemade coleslaw.

Homemade Pizza

Guinness Loaf for St Patricks Day- The Bread Challenge Part 1

Ok, so when I set myself the bread challenge several days ago it certainly wasn't my intention to take this long to start it but at least I have got off the ball now with my first loaf especially for St Patricks Day!
 Not much to say about this loaf. Now I have the kneading technique sussed, and allow plenty of time for the dough to rise to the maximum, I found it quite easy. Using the brown flour did give the dough a less elasticated feel though and quite rubbery to the touch when kneading but the end result came out great and you can certainly taste the Guinness in each slice of bread.
 Ingredients:
 250g/9oz Strong White Flour
 250g/9oz Malted Brown Flour
 1 Sachet Easy-Blend Dried Yeast
 1 1/2 Tsp Salt
 300ml/10floz Guinness
 Veg Oil for Brushing

 Method:
1. Sift both flours into a bowl and stir in the yeast and salt. Make a well in the centre.
2. Heat the Guinness very slightly in a microwave til lukewarm. Pour into the well and mix to a soft dough.
3. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth then return to bowl, cover with a wet tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour.
4. Turn out and knead lightly for a couple of minutes. shape into an oval and place in a 2lb oiled loaf tin. Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.
5. Cook in a pre heated oven for 20-30 minutes at 200C/400F/Gas6 then transfer to a wire rack

Guinness Loaf

Happy St Patricks Day.
Let me leave you with my St Patricks Day photo of the church opposite the pub this morning. Snow in March!!!

St. Martins Church, Litchborough

Trip Advisor Great Review

If you are a regular to my blog you will know I have written a post about trip advisor before.
In my previous job, I know, there were a few reviews by friends and enemies which, to me, is really not helpful to people using the website to decide whether to visit the establishment or not.
Constructive criticism is always welcome, and acted on, at The Old Red Lion, Litchborough and this week we were all really chuffed to receive a great view from a customer who ate with us last Wednesday night. I was especially chuffed as I was the chef that night.
What delighted me most was a comment on the Homemade Bread which I have spent weeks perfecting. The customer wrote  "The home-made bread deserves a special mention - good crust and crumb, and perfect seasoning. We are looking forward to a return visit some time soon."
How lovely was that?!
To read the whole review follow this link http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g499614-d3506749-r153946724-The_Old_Red_Lion_Pub_and_Restaurant-Towcester_Northamptonshire_England.html#REVIEWS

And if you would like to attempt your own Homemade Bread my recipe can be found through this link http://stylesofcooking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/homemade-bread.html
Be patient and try not to rush the 'rising' process. I now make my dough in the morning and leave until the dough really rises out and over the the tin.
Let me know how you get on.