Baguettes

I will admit that there are times when I do feel ridiculously pleased with the results of my various experiments in the kitchen. I am not professionally trained and have never been on any cookery courses (other than the bread making course that I recently went on); I am merely an enthusiastic amateur who loves eating and cooking tasty and interesting food to share with those that I love. That’s it at its simplest. Furthermore, I love writing and sharing my enthusiasm for food, so it seems natural that I would do that here, on this blog.

 

My love of cookery stems from my love of eating and a desire to experience new tastes and flavours and seeing how I can use and adapt these to create the types of dishes that I crave and want to eat.

 

Initially when I started this blog, I was going to write about ALL the different things that I had been trying to cook for myself, family and friends, even some of the less-than-successful recipes, but I soon realised that this was not what I wanted my blog to be about. We all lead such busy lives and are bombarded, on a daily basis, with so much information from so many sources, that the last thing we want to do is trawl through a recipe which at the end of, the writer declares to be unsuccessful. I think that it is far more useful to test, tweak, and perfect the recipes in my own kitchen before publishing them for others to (hopefully) enjoy trying out! I always try to include any variations and significant issues that I have come across, hoping that by sharing my experiences, others will feel more confident in trying out the recipes.

 

Recently, many of the recipes that I have been cooking and working on have been quite technical and a little complicated. The challenge has been to simplify these without sacrificing taste or quality, so that they can be attempted in a normal home kitchen like mine. After trying out new ingredients or new processes, there is something so reassuring about going back to basics and doing a bit of bread making. Although I love challenging myself in the culinary sense, I also like to return to the basics…and really, there is nothing more basic than bread!

 

The bread making course that I attended in the Firehouse Bakery in Delgany, County Wicklow a couple of months ago really awakened something in me and I have been baking my own bread with increased confidence since then, adapting basic recipes to include other ingredients along the way. I love feeling the changes in the bread dough as you knead it and seeing it spring to life as the yeast gets to work and the dough rises as it proves. The smell of freshly baked bread is one of the most amazing things and its aroma acts like a magnet drawing others into the kitchen in pursuit of some to eat whilst it is still warm.

 

I have wanted to make my own baguettes for ages, so finally decided to give it a go and mightily pleased I was with the results! The recipe that I used is one by Patrick Ryan of the Firehouse Bakery, with a couple of slight changes that I have made. The recipe that I used was originally published in Food & Wine Magazine… an Irish magazine published monthly and can be accessed here.

 

The recipe needs to be started the night before so that the poolish has time to develop. Patrick states that this recipe creates 6 baguettes, but I divided the dough into 8 rather than 6 baguettes and preferred the slightly thinner results.
 

Ingredients:

Poolish:
250g strong white bread flour

250ml water

3g fresh yeast

Dough:

675g strong white bread flour

10g fine sea salt

5g fresh yeast

500g poolish

330ml water
 

Method:

Poolish:

1. Place all the ingredients in a clean medium sized mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly with a wooden spoon to create a very wet and sticky dough. Cover the bowl with cling-film and leave to sit at room temperature overnight.

Dough:

2. Place the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and combine together using your hands. Crumble the yeast into the flour and mix through with your hands until well distributed.

3. Add the poolish which should be very aerated and risen after its night’s resting and add the water. Mix everything together with your hands to create a soft dough.

4. Turn the dough out onto a clean work-surface and knead for 12-15 minutes until smooth and silky. As usual resist the urge to flour the work-surface – as you continue kneading the dough, it will stop sticking to the surface.

5. Place the dough into a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling-film and set aside to prove for 60-90 minutes until the dough has doubled in size.

6. Turn the dough out on to a clean work-surface and knock back. Divide into 8 equal portions (I use my electronic scales to measure exactly, though you can do it by eye).

Shaping the dough:

7. Firstly shape each portion of dough into a ball and then working one ball at a time and flatten out into a rectangle (approximately 20cms x 15cms) with one of the long sides facing you. Take the edge closest to you start rolling up into a tight sausage like shape about 15cms long, crimping the edges with your fingers along the seam at intervals as you roll.

8. Using the palm of your hands and starting in the centre roll the dough out working your hands from the centre to the outside edges until doubled in length and each roll has pointy tips.

9. Arrange the formed baguettes on a clean tea-towel, heavily dusted with flour drawing the tea-towel up to separate each baguette as they are placed side by side. Love the baguettes to prove for 45 minutes until well risen.

To finish:

10. Preheat oven to its highest setting and lightly flour two large baking trays. Place an empty roasting dish on the bottom of your oven and allow to heat up along with the oven.

11. Carefully roll each baguette onto the prepared baking trays (I put 4 on each) and slash each baguette 3 or 4 times diagonally along its length with a blade or sharp knife.

12. Throw some ice cubes into the roasting dish at the bottom of the oven and place the baguettes in the oven for 20-25 minutes until deep golden brown and cooked all the way through.

Makes 8.

 

Raspberry, Pomegranate, Rosewater & Pistachio Pavlova

Even though Valentine’s Day seems to be one of the most popular days in the year for dining out, I always think it’s far nicer to make something tasty at home for your loved one to eat! Don’t get me wrong, I love eating out and trying new restaurants, but personally I prefer not to do so on Valentine’s Day where it’s hard to get bookings and so many restaurants want to get you in, served and finished as quickly as possible so that they can accommodate another sitting.  I probably sound extremely cynical and a little grumpy, but believe me, I have experienced this more than once! In fairness, not ALL restaurants have this approach, but many do.

My other great complaint about dining out on Valentine’s Day is that many restaurants eschew their normal menus and offer so-called ‘Special’ Valentine’s Day menus. These menus are often predictable and contain dishes that are easy for stretched and stressed restaurant kitchens to prepare. Regular a la carte menus are often set aside completely for the night or are offered in a truncated form, again easier for busy kitchens to deal with!

I wanted to create a dish that was sweet and light but looked pretty and delicate and most of all inviting to eat; something elegant, a little playful and fun… which for me is what romance is all about.

After toying with a number of ideas, none of which was really grabbing me, I decided to make a pavlova. I must have produced hundreds of pavlovas over the years, but I don’t think I will ever tire of producing them because they are easy to make and people seem to love them! It’s hard not to… with their crisp exteriors giving way to a marshmallow-like centre they are already wonderful, but add cream and fruit and they are a perfect end to a meal, as witnessed by their almost universal popularity.
 

I’m not normally a fan of rosewater, but here it works really well. I erred on the cautious side when adding it, because I know from experience that if you are heavy handed with it, it can swamp the flavours of all other ingredients. Here, the rosewater is a gentle background note that delicately flavours the pavlova, working in harmony with the fresh raspberries, pomegranate seeds and chopped pistachios.

Because this is a layered pavlova, I have doubled the quantities given in my basic Strawberry Pavlova recipe, but have cut back a little on the cornflour and vinegar. Other than that, this is more-or-less the same recipe with a little added rosewater for flavouring. if you like you can fold in half of the chopped pistachios to the meringue just before you spoon it on to the baking trays, but I prefer to sprinkle them over the finished pavlova just before serving. This recipe will leave you with a number of egg yolks, but I have a few recipes coming up over the next couple of weeks that are great for using them up.

 

Ingredients:

8 large egg whites
500g caster sugar

1tblsp cornflour

2tsp white wine vinegar

1tsp rosewater

Filling:

500ml single cream, lightly whipped (flavoured with ½ tsp of rosewater if desired)

125g fresh raspberries

Seeds of 1 pomegranate

50 pistachios (unsalted) roughly chopped

To decorate:

Some crystallised rose leaves or fresh rose leaves (untreated with pesticides etc.)
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Line three large baking sheets with baking parchment which onto each you have drawn a 23cm circle on the underside. Set aside.

2. Place the egg whites into a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer whisk the egg whites to the soft peak stage. Gradually whisk in the caster sugar, mixing well after each addition to create a glossy meringue which hold it shape.

3. Sift over the cornflour and add the vinegar and rosewater, mixing briefly so that they are just incorporated.

4. Spoon the mixture, dividing it evenly, onto the three prepared baking trays using the circles that you have previously drawn as a guide, making sure to keep within the edges. Leave aside a few tablespoons of the meringue mixture for the final meringue disc and place into a disposable piping bag fitted with a plain 1cm round nozzle. Use this to pipe little ‘mounds’ of the meringue over the top of this disc. This will be the top layer of your pavlova.

5. Place the trays into the preheated oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 120C/Fan Oven 100C/Gas Mark ½. Bake for 1 hour exactly and then turn off oven. Allow to cool completely in the oven before finishing.

To finish:

6. Carefully peel the baking parchment off the  baked pavlova discs.

Place one of the plain pavlova disc on your serving plate/cake stand and spoon over half the cream. Top with the other plain pavlova and spoon the remaining cream on top. Place the top pavlova disc on top.

7. Scatter the fresh raspberries, pomegranate seeds and chopped pistachios over the top of the pavlova. Serve with rose petals strewn around the pavlova with a few decoratively placed on top.

Serves 6-8 generously.
 

 

Tear-and-Share Granary Bread Rolls

In many ways, this recipe is a follow-on from my previous post as this bread is an adaptation of that basic recipe, where I have substituted some of the strong white flour for malted granary flour. Also rather than prove the bread in a basket or bake it in a tin, I have opted to form it into little bread rolls which I allow to prove side-by-side so that when they bake they join together and then have to be torn apart in order to be eaten.

 

The white bread recipe that I gave in my previous post could also be shaped in this manner to create white bread rolls rather than the loaf of bread that I suggested in that post. I just love the quirky variations that are possible and how adaptable bread dough is. What I particularly like about this particular bread is its communality… I like to plonk it on a bread board in the centre of the table and let everyone tear off their own bread roll! Amusingly, no-one ever seems to be the first one to launch in and rip off a roll, but once the first one has been taken it becomes a free-for-all with everyone scrambling to grab one before they are gone!

 

I do feel a bit of a fraud giving this recipe, because it is basically the same as that given in my previous post, but on considering whether to publish it, I decided that it was worth doing because it illustrates the many variations and possibilities that are available to you, once you have a good basic recipe to hand and gain confidence in baking your own bread.

 

In my opinion, this bread is all the more appealing when liberally spread with a good Irish butter!

Ingredients:

300g strong white bread flour
200g malted brown/granary bread flour

10g salt

15g fresh yeast

300ml water

1tblsp olive oil
 

Method:

1. Place both flours in a large mixing bowl and add the salt, giving everything a good mix with your hands so that the salt is well distributed. Crumble in the fresh yeast and mix this through as well. Add the water and olive oil and mix with your hands to form a soft dough.

2. Tip the dough out onto a clean work surface (no need to dust it with flour) and knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough feels soft and silky. Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling-film. Set the bowl aside and allow the dough to prove until doubled in size which can take anything from 60-90 minutes depending on the ambient temperature of your kitchen.

3. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and gently punch out the air. Divide the dough into 7 small, equally sized balls/rolls (I use my electronic scales to do this, but you can do it by eye). Place one ball in the centre of a large parchment-covered baking tray which you have sprinkled with a little flour and space the remaining 6 balls evenly around the edge, spaced slightly apart so that the individual rolls have room to rise and join into each other. Allow the bread rise for a second time until it is almost doubled in size, which will take about 60 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to highest setting and place an empty roasting tin onto the floor of the oven to heat up along with the oven.

5. When the bread has proved for a second time, place the baking tray into the preheated oven. Throw some ice-cubes into the heated tray at the bottom of the oven to help the bread develop a good crust.

Makes 1 large loaf of 7 tear-and-share rolls.