Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
One ha' penny, two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns!

Its only 6 weeks until Easter, 4 weeks until the clocks change, the sun has been shining, the birds singing and this can only mean one thing... Spring is on its way.

I need to get organised, I had planned to do some lovely recipes for Mother's Day, but time is flying, I have been so busy and I am rapidly running out of time. Hopefully I will be able to still bring you some ideas for Mother's Day, but I will definitely be trying to bring you a few lovely Easter ideas, my first offering being hot cross buns.

They are a little time consuming to make, but like many yeast recipes, it is more than worth it, the flavour, texture, taste, blows the shop brought ones out of the water, also you can not beat the aroma that fills the house.

They are perfect for afternoon tea, great for breakfast toasted with jam and served with an espresso or just as a quick snack to have with a cuppa, traditionally eaten hot or toasted on Good Friday, I think they are perfect for anytime.

Buon appetito






















Make 16

For the dough
680g strong white flour, plus extra to dust
14g/2 sachets fast-action dried yeast (or you can use 30g fresh yeast if you have it)
10g sea salt
100g golden caster sugar
80g unsalted butter, really soft
15g mixed spice
175ml whole milk, tepid
175ml water, tepid
1 medium egg
80g currants
80g sultanas
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Grated zest of 1 orange
(You don't have to just use currants & sultana's, some recipes add candied peel, you could add cherries which I did, dried cranberries, anything that takes you fancy really, just stick to a total of 160g)

For the cross
100g strong white flour
Pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar
25g of melted butter
125ml water

For the bun wash
75ml boiling water
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Pinch of mixed spice

Put the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, butter, mixed spice, milk, sugar, water and egg into a big mixing bowl. With a wooden spoon stir to form a loose dough - you may need 1 - 2 more tablespoons of water if it looks dry, but I found that it was just fine. Turn the loose dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for a full 15 minutes until smooth, or if you prefer, you can do it all in the mixer with the dough hook for 10 minutes.

Gently work in the dried fruit and zest. Put the dough back into a big mixing bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for 30- 45 minutes until it has doubled in size.

Line a high-sided baking tray with baking paper. Use a scraper (or your hands if you don't have one) to turn the dough out of the bowl, then cut it in half, still using the scraper or a sharp large knife. Divide each piece in half, then repeat until you have 16 roughly equal pieces. I rather sadly weighed mine out, but you really do not have to do this, I am just a little sad! In the palm of your hand, make the pieces firmly round so they will stand up on your baking tray. Line them up 4 by 4 with a finger's space between each bun.

Cover the tin and leave in a warm place for 30 - 50 minutes, again until doubled in size. I always tend to leave them for the longer time, it means that I can get on with tother things and also gives the dough to rise properly.

Preheat the oven to 210C/fan 190C/gas 6 1/2

In a medium size bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the cross mix, the gradually whisk int he butter and water until you have a smooth batter. Pour into a piping bag with a small nozzle, about a 1/2 cm one. Cross the buns by piping a lattice across the length and width of the tin. The first time I baked these, I made the batter a little to thick and crossed each bun individually, you live & learn!

Bake for 15 minutes until golden.

Meanwhile, make the bun wash by boiling the water with the sugar and mixed spice for 30 seconds, then set aside.

When the buns are ready, remove them from the oven and brush them with the spicy bun wash.

Serve warm from the oven with lashings of butter, heaven.

They were still lovely and fresh the next day, but they are not the same as straight from the oven, just lightly toast them and they will be just perfect.

You can also freeze the finished buns, just wrap well in clingfilm, then foil. They will keep up to 1 month. When you need them, just defrost them in a preheated oven for 15 minutes and serve warm. Great if you want to get a head of the Easter celebrations, or just want something yummy to serve unexpected guests.

Cottage Loaf

Please bare with me, yes it is another bread recipe and I do have a few more to type up, but I just love making bread. I have now baked 9 out of 100 recipes from Paul Hollywood's book and can not wait to do the Greek section, the recipes are inspiring, some tell you a little history about the bread and the recipes are just so simple to follow. So far every recipe I have followed to the letter and everyone has come out perfect. Hope I haven't jinxed myself now!

I am not following the book from start to finish, more picking my way through my favourite recipes first or ones that are practical and fit in and around our meals.

For example, proving as I type is a massive 3lb loaf in a loaf tin, this will be sliced and used to make gorgeous ham & mustard sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.

Some, like the loaf below, I've made just because they look so pretty. The Cottage Loaf is a very British shape, it originated around the 1500s and is still made in small bakeries all across the country. Who can blame them, it is rather cute. Its a lovely light & buttery bread and has to be one of my favourite so far.

So whatever the reason, why not give bread making a go, its a lot easier than you imagine, tastes so much better than the shop brought variety and you really do get a sense of achievement.

Buon appetito

Makes 1 loaf

400g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
30g yeast
60g butter, softened
250ml water

Please note, most of Paul's recipe's use fresh yeast, if you are using instant or dried just use 25% less than the recipe states.

Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until you have a soft, pliable dough.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead with your fingers for 5 minutes, then put back into the bowl and rest the dough for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/gas mark 8.

Tip the dough out onto your floured surface, rip off a third of the dough and shape into a ball. Shape the remaining dough into a ball and place the smaller ball onto the larger one. Flatten slightly with your hand. Push your finger down through the centre of the loaf from top to bottom until you can feel the table, this is great fun! Dust the loaf with flour and using a sharp knife, make vertical slashes from the top of the loaf to the bottom.

Put onto a lined baking tray and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Mr Hollywood suggests you serve with chunks of cheese, sounds perfect to me & some lovely pickle would  just finish this off a treat, oh and maybe a cold beer !

Ciabatta

It's a rainy Saturday afternoon, only Myself, Hubby and Luca are at home, we have been out to Reigate, checked out some lovely vintage furniture shops, been to Starbucks and stocked up on yummy toppings for our homemade pizza's for dinner tonight.

Now the boys are chilling in the lounge, playing on the Playstation together, I have just finished making the dough for the pizza's later and a huge 3lb loaf dough which has given my arms quite a work out, no bingo wings here!

It's raining, the house feel's cosy and I finally have time to sit down and catch up on my very neglected blog. I have so many recipes I need to type up but just have not had the time lately.

So here is the first recipe, ciabatta. I was a little nervous making this for the first time, the ones that you buy in the shop are always so perfect and look so good, but what I have found is, that compared with the homemade variety the shop brought are pretty tasteless. Homemade was no more challenging than any other bread I have made and the great thing is that it mades four loaves at a time, perfect to stock your freezer up with.

The ciabatta looked just like the ones you buy in the shop, perfect shape and size, lovely texture, but with so much more flavour, again I have made a rod for my own back and will not be buying shop brought ones ever again.

This recipe can also be used to make great garlic bread with, simply flatten the dough out, brush with garlic oil and you have instant garlic bread.

Buon appetito

Makes 4 loaves


500g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
15g instant yeast
400ml tepid water
30ml olive oil

Place the flour, salt, yeast and 300ml of the water in a table mixer with a dough hook and mix on slow for 3 minutes (this will bring the ingredients together).

Then slowly begin to add the remaining water and mix for a further 5-8 minutes on a medium speed. The dough should now be wet and stretch easily when pulled. This will shock my usual followers, but I actually missed the hand kneading here, I have gone from using the machine to knead everything to loving doing it by hand, feeling the dough change under your hands is great. Shocking I know!

Place the dough into an oiled 2 litre square plastic tub (an old ice cream container is just perfect for the job) and leave it to double in size, this should take about 1 hour in ambient room temperature (20 - 24C/68 - 75F).

Tip the dough out onto a heavily floured surface and coat the top of the dough all over with flour. Cut the dough in half lengthways and divide each piece in two, so you have four pieces of dough (see photo above).

Stretch out each piece of dough a little and place on two lined baking trays to rest for a further 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 220C/425F/mark 7.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.

Hubby's Valentines Cake

This Valentines I decided that it would be nice to make something edible and delicious for my Hubby instead of the normal run of the mill gifts. I took a few ideas from various places and this is what I ended up with and I must say I am really pleased with the result.

I basically took my favourite vanilla sponge recipe, baked it in two 8 inch round pans, made a template of a heart using an empty cereal packet, put the two pieces of sponge on top of each other and using a really sharp knife, cut round the template.

I filled the centre with strawberry jam and then made a buttercream to roughly ice a thin layer all over the cake, just so I had something to stick my fondant onto.

Next I took a large piece of white ready made fondant, kneaded it until pliable and then rolled it out until the desired thickness and size to cover my cake. I smoothed this on, cut where necessary and hey presto, one iced heart shaped cake.

I had some left over pink fondant from a previous cake, this I rolled out and cut lots of little hearts. I covered my cake with these using edible glue, but a dab of water does the trick just as well. If you have any left over white fondant you can always colour this yourself and why stop at pink, rainbow colours would look great, as would pretty pastels.

It looked great, tasted amazing and Hubby loved it, as every girl knows, away to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Happy Valentines.

For the sponge
150g caster sugar
150g soft butter or margarine
3 medium free range eggs
175g self raising flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 160 degrees (fan assisted) or 180 degrees normal.

Beat caster sugar and butter together until creamed (well combined). Scrape down sides of bowl and add 1 egg at a time and a little flour until all mixture is combined.

Do not over mix as this makes the cake sponge tough.

Spoon the mixture 50/50 into two 8 inch greased and lined tins and cook in oven for 18 minutes or until lightly golden. Once cooked, cool on a wire rack.

Vanilla Buttercream frosting ingredients
240g icing sugar
125g good quality soft butter (unsalted) Splash of whole organic milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place soft butter and 1/3 of icing sugar into a bowl and beat on low for 10-15 seconds in a free-standing mixer. Once partially mixed, turn up the speed to high and beat until well combined. Repeat this process until all sugar has been incorporated, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl often.
Scrape down a final time and turn the mixer up to medium speed. Add your vanilla extract, wait until combined and then add the milk to blend all the ingredients together. The milk also helps to loosen the mixture and make it light and fluffy.


You will also need
Strawberry Jam or jam of your choice
White fondant icing
Pink fondant icing

Monkey Bread for My Little Monkeys

I can honestly say that I had never heard of Monkey Bread until I came across it on Ruth Clemens lovely Website, The Pink Whisk, so I did a little research and here is what I found out, courtesy of Wikipedia, here follows a short history lesson on Monkey Bread.

The origin of the term monkey bread is uncertain. Possible etymologies include that the bread resembles the monkey puzzle tree, or the act of several people pulling at the bread is reminiscent of monkey behaviour. The packaging of a stoneware "Monkey Pot" made by Boston Warehouse in 1981 claimed that "monkey bread was named by that unique and whimsical comedienne, ZaSu Pitts, who so referred to it because, as she said, "you have to monkey around with it."

Recipes for the bread first appeared in American women's magazines and community cookbooks in the 1950s, and the dish is still virtually unknown outside the United States. The bread is made with pieces of sweet yeast dough (often frozen) which are baked in a cake pan at high heat after first being individually covered in melted butter, cinnamon, sugar and chopped pecans. It is traditionally served hot so that the baked segments can be easily torn away with the fingers and eaten by hand.

History lesson over, what you really need to know is, that this is just the most scrummy thing ever, its addictive and comes under the heading of perfect comfort food.

So whether you are making this for yourself, to share or for your own little Monkey's, I can guarantee you one thing, it will become a firm family favourite and I know I will be making it time and time again.

Buon appetito

Ingredients:
For the dough
500g Strong White Flour
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp Salt
55g Butter
2 Eggs beaten
2 tbsp Honey
15g Dried Yeast (3 tsp)
175ml Milk

For the sugar coating
150g Caster Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon

For the Sauce
200g Butter
100g Dark Brown Sugar

Begin by making the dough.

Warm the milk so it is tepid.

In a small bowl mix 2 tbsp of the milk with the yeast and cream together.

Into a large bowl sift the flour, salt and cinnamon and mix together.

Add the butter in small pieces and rub into the flour.

Make a well in the centre of your flour mix and add the eggs, honey, yeast and just enough milk to make a dough, it should be soft and not too sticky. How much of the remaining milk you will need will depend on how wet or dry your mix is. I used all of it. I used the Artisan with the dough hook on to do this bit and it brought the dough together nicely.

Then tip your dough out onto your work surface and knead for 10 minutes. I didn't need any extra flour and it didn't stick at all, but if it does stick to begin with just keep going and it will come together nicely. This is one of the hardest doughs I have ever had to knead, but it was well worth it as it came out beautifully.

Pop it into a bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside to rise in a warmish draught free spot.  This should take about 1 1/2hours but will depend on where you have put it.

Once doubled in size tip it out onto your work top, give it a quick knead to knock it back and shape into a long fat sausage.  Cut into approx 1cm thick slices.

Chop each slice into three random shaped pieces.

In a large bowl mix together your sugar topping, combining the caster sugar and cinnamon, now put all the dough pieces into the bowl and give it a good mix with your hands, making sure every pieces of dough gets a good coating. If any stick together, just separate them as you mix.

Once they are coated nicely, put them all into your tube pan.  You don’t need to grease the pan, but if you are worried that it may stick, just give it a light greasing.


Cover with the tea towel, place it in a nice warm place for an hour or until puffy and doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 200c/180c Fan/375F/Gas Mark 5.

Now its time to make the sauce.

In a pan melt down 200g Butter and 100g Dark Brown Sugar. The butter should be melted and the sugar dissolved.

Once the dough pieces have doubled in size pour over all the sauce. I placed my tube pan on a baking tray to catch any leaks, just as well I did as a little did sneak out and would of burnt to the bottom of my oven and we all know how bad burnt sugar smells!

Put your pan into the oven for 35-40 mins.  Halfway through cooking cover with a good layer of foil to stop the top catching.

When it has baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 mins.

Invert the monkey bread onto a serving dish, you should have no trouble getting it out but a couple of gentle taps may be required to help it on its way.

Allow this to cool for at least 15 mins before serving, the caramel sauce will be as hot as the centre of the Earth, so you really do not want to burnt yourself.

Serve as a cake with a nice cup of tea or coffee, but it would also make a lovely dessert, served warm with some vanilla ice cream.

If you want to add your own flare to your Monkey Bread, why not add some dried fruit or nuts. I'm feeling some chopped dates for my next batch.

Simple Valentine's Cupcakes

I know I have posted this recipe before, but I just had to share with you these pretty, but extremely simple Cupcakes, a perfect little Valentine's gifts or just what you need for a Valentine's tea time treat.

You can buy very cheaply online, individual cupcake boxes and most good supermarkets now stock cellophane baking gift bags, one cup cake per bag, tied with a gorgeous ribbon and a handwritten tag with a few perfectly chosen words would make anyone's Valentine's Day, a gift from the heart.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pack-Clear-Cupcake-Boxes-Incert/dp/B004T8H3TK/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&qid=1328367926&sr=8-32

Ingredients - Makes 12

150g caster sugar

150g soft butter or margarine

3 medium free range eggs

175g self raising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees (fan assisted) or 180 degrees normal.

Beat caster sugar and butter together until creamed (well combined). Scrape down sides of bowl and add 1 egg at a time and a little flour until all mixture is combined.

Do not over mix as this makes the cake sponge tough.

Spoon equal quantities of mixture into 12 cake cases and cook in oven for 18 minutes or until lightly golden. Once cooked, cool on a wire rack.

Vanilla Buttercream frosting & decorating ingredients

240g icing sugar

125g good quality soft butter (unsalted) Splash of whole organic milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 packet of Love Heart sweets

Method

Place soft butter and 1/3 of icing sugar into a bowl and beat on low for 10-15 seconds in a free-standing mixer. Once partially mixed, turn up the speed to high and beat until well combined. Repeat this process until all sugar has been incorporated, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl often.

Scrape down a final time and turn the mixer up to medium speed. Add your vanilla extract, wait until combined and then add the milk to blend all the ingredients together. The milk also helps to loosen the mixture and make it light and fluffy.

When ready put your frosting into a piping bag, pipe a swirl of frosting onto each cupcake, top with one Love Heart sweet per cupcake, add a sprinkle of edible glitter and hey presto.. Valentine's Cupcakes.