30. Quick Granary Rolls

This has been my first real baking disaster, and I'm determined to include everything in this blog! I intend to have another go at this, but at the time I vowed "well, that's it! That's that recipe done!" Basically, this picture shows how far I got. Note the greased baking sheets in the background; note the 'dough' in the bowl. It was more like a lumpy Yorkshire Pudding batter than a bread dough! I was furious, mostly with the recipe, but partly with myself for being in so much of a rush that common baking sense didn't kick in. Clearly, there is too much liquid. There is a massive flaw in the recipe, which instructed me to add 'about 450ml each of tepid milk and water, mixed.' I read over and over that after my disaster, even got my husband to read it. There's only one way to interpret it: 900ml of liquid in total. What, after reading other recipes, it meant however, was that 225ml of each liquid should be mixed to make 450ml in total - and even that's pretty wet for bread. Because the method advised to pour the liquid in a continuous stream, I didn't pause to think about how wet the dough was going; only realising that disaster had struck when I got my hands in at the end. There was no way this was going to be kneaded to form a smooth dough! I had two options: add more flour and salvage it, or chuck it away. I threw a massive wobbly and did the latter, swearing profusely as I did so. I just had visions of potentially wasting even more of my ingredients if I added more flour, so I thought it best to give it up as a bad job.

I've read the blogs of others doing this project and the same thing happened to them; it's an obvious fault with the recipe. I shall attempt to make these at some point soon, doing a bit of research on what the quantities of liquid ought to be first.

Watch this space...

 

 

June 2013: revisiting the rolls! I always intended to bake these properly, and a quick flick through the book helped me out with the quantity of liquid. The recipe is very straightforward, and I managed to make these while the baby slept in her bouncy chair in the kitchen. The dough was still quite sticky and took a fair bit of kneading to get it 'smooth', but I felt happy with the texture of the rolls and managed to get them to a fairly uniform size. I'm not usually very good at this, but obviously there are issues with the baking if there's an assortment of sizes! The hardest part was wrestling with the cling film and oiling it before covering the rolls. I really hate cling film. For all it's great uses, it's an absolute sod to handle! Anyway, I popped the rolls into a warmed oven to prove, in the absence of anywhere suitably warm in the house. I left them until a convenient time arose for baking (working around the baby) and was pleased that they only took 10-15 minutes. It meant that I could have one for my lunch. I do wonder if I over-proved them though, because they really increased in size (although I suppose they only doubled, as per the recipe), and they also got really bubbly. I think this is normally where 'knocking back' is done in bread-making, to bash some of the air out, but there was no instruction to do this so I left them as they were. I gave them 12 minutes to bake, a little bit less than the recipe advises, and gave them a tap. They sounded hollow and were a nice colour, so I was happy with that. There was a difference in colour depending on which shelf of the oven they were baked on, but that's to be expected and they were all baked sufficiently. I was really please when I cut one open - I can't think of anything wrong with the texture and 'crumb'. I do feel insecure about my bread-making; it's quite unfamiliar territory for me really. I wish I'd had more lessons from Grandad so I knew what to expect from each process. But this is why I'm doing this project, to learn more about baking. At the end of the day, if it looks and tastes good, then that's good enough. Unless I become a pro that is!
Baker's verdict: really easy to make and very tasty. I thought they looked lovely cooling on the rack.
Husband rating: 8/10 - good bread rolls. Made nice sandwiches; nice with butter on.

29. Classic Sticky Gingerbread

Just out of Bonfire Night season, it seemed appropriate to have a go at this bake, made for visiting friends (and now seasoned cake testers!). I've always liked gingerbread so was looking forward to making and eating this. Unlike the gingerbread I made earlier in my project, this one didn't require the inclusion of porridge oats. I was relieved about that, as I didn't really enjoy the 'chanky' texture produced by the oats in the last recipe. This one just relied on the usual cake mix, plus treacle and golden syrup.

Something that troubled me slightly about the recipe was Mary's description at the beginning - a warning that if it sank in the middle, it would be because you'd been 'a bit heavy-handed with the treacle'. I wasn't sure how that works when you measure ingredients as rigidly as I do, using electronic scales, and when a precise quantity is given in the recipe. What's a girl supposed to do? I followed the recipe; when it first came out of the oven (see above) it was well-risen, but sinkage followed (see right), and it seemed that the treacle was responsible. I felt frustrated by this; what's the point in following a recipe if it dooms you to failure? As if I'd contemplate tinkering with quantities at this stage of my baking career! I did worry that I'd not baked it for long enough, but wasn't convinced by this.

The worst thing that happened was that the cake was quite squidgy in the middle. There are worse cake-crimes, and actually the gooiness was quite nice. Better 'sticky' (as the recipe title dictates) than crumby and dry, surely. Indeed, one of our guests requested a sticky slice from the middle of the cake rather than a piece I labelled as 'more done'. It was quite difficult to slice, with it being quite sticky, but I managed to get it into 16 good-sized squares. We had a slice each cold (forks needed), and then on subsequent days had it warmed up with custard. It tasted great both ways.

Baker's verdict: easy to make; handling golden syrup and treacle is always a bit of a nuisance, but I enjoy the whole 'melting' process. Tasted really, really good. It also kept well: I had my last piece 5 days after baking it. I'd definitely make this again, and maybe reduce the treacle by 50g to see what happens...

Husband rating: 9/10 -  delicious cake, tasty, moist and great with custard warmed up.

28. Melting Moments

Biscuit time again! These are somewhere between a cake and a biscuit to an extent: there's an egg yolk in them and they looked a bit like little flat sponges when they came out of the oven. There was a distinct 'merging' of the biscuits; 18 per baking tray did seem like a lot, and it's not like you can obtain/use giant baking sheets! These were very easy to make; I interpreted the 'few drops' of vanilla extract my way - what did I think would be needed to make them taste of vanilla? I used my nose as my guide. Making 36 equal-sized portions out of a big ball of dough is always a bit of a challenge, and I don't have much of a head for division. I split the mixture into two - one lump per tray and then worked from there. They were as close to equal in size as I could be bothered to get them! I flattened the biscuits out in the oats rather than rolling them in the oats as balls - none of the oats were sticking that way. It's always satisfying when you find something out for yourself. The biscuits soon baked, the ones on the top shelf a bit browner than the others, but not 'overdone' as far as my novice opinion goes. The paler ones were softer when we ate them, but had more of a biscuit 'snap' after storing for a day. I ran a knife between them while they were still soft to retain a bit of a shape to them - I feared there'd just be a pile of broken biscuits at the end of it if I left it until they'd cooled.

Baker's verdict: tasty, very very tasty. Buttery and light and very edible. Easy enough to make.

Husband rating: 8.75/10. Absolutely beautiful but didn't give them a 10 because they're quite simple. Very moreish. Preferred the ones which were under-baked as they were slightly chewy.

27. Classic Rich Christmas Cake

Here it is, my first ever Christmas cake. Baked during the October half-term holiday to allow plenty of 'feeding' time. It happened to be the next fruit cake on my list: I may skip through the chapters to find other Christmas-related bakes while I'm at it though. Anyway, stage one involved getting all the fruit chopped and mixed. There was a lot: raisins, currants and sultanas, as well as apricots, glace cherries and chopped mixed peel. They made a colourful, very festive-looking concoction, eagerly awaiting the 3 tablespoons of brandy to bathe in. My current abstinence from alcohol made this soaking both heavenly and hellish - breathing in those aromas just a little bit of torture but lovely nonetheless!

The fruit had to soak, covered, overnight. By the morning everything had plumped up nicely, and I resisted the urge to pop a boozy raisin into my mouth. Day two involved the cake bit: very straightforward, but physically demanding. My worn-out electric whisk wouldn't have coped with mixing this lot up so it was wooden spoon action all the way. What did make it a bit easier was adding the fruit to the 'wet' ingredients bit by bit. Sometimes there's a danger of the flour not being mixed in properly - this wasn't an issue; I did, however, have my customary butter problems again. I think I need to go one step beyond 'squeezably soft' and whip the butter to a paste before I chuck it in with the other ingredients.

As it was, I just tried to blend in any larger masses of butter as I mixed. There weren't many, and I knew that the baking would help to disperse it further, but I do wonder if it's this (as well as the loose-bottomed tin) which contributes to the buttery leakage at the bottom of the oven. At least I'd predicted this: I put a baking tray beneath the cake-tin to catch the drips. It is frustrating though: surely not that much butter should leak out. Perhaps the cakes are trying to cut our calories for us...

The cake baked for 4 and a half hours and filled the house with the rich aroma of Christmas for a good 2 of them. I don't think there is any better smell, for the warm and fuzzy associations it creates. I wish smells could be bottled and captured forever. The skewer came out clean after that time (the minimum suggested); the cake looked and smelt great, with no hint of charring (a result of covering the cake with some baking parchment). It did flatten the top a bit (my fault for pressing it down and not laying it 'lightly' on top to start with), but this also created some little flaky bits to pick off and nibble!

My blog for this cake needs to pause here, pending comments on the taste etc when we get to Christmas! Six and a half weeks to go...

 

Christmas 2012

 

And now, after two months spent waiting for all that lovely brandy to soak in and work its magic, here we have the finished article! I 'fed' it at the end of November with several tablespoons, and then wrapped it back up; when I unwrapped it on Christmas Eve it smelt lovely, and felt nice and moist. I was a bit of a renegade when it came to the icing, realising too late that you're meant to leave a 24-hour gap between marzipan and icing. I also cheated by buying the ready-made stuff. Mary says it's ok, and life's too short...

I was anxious about the covering of the cake, having never worked with marzipan or royal icing before, but was relieved to find the whole process much simpler than I thought. I had far too much marzipan by the time I'd rolled it out to the required thickness (nice and thin), so Mum and I made some petite fours with the leftovers. I initially forgot to put the apricot jam on, so had to gently lift it off and apply said jam to seal it to the cake. I then left it to 'dry' for a few hours before rolling out and placing the icing. Again, this was easier to work with than expected, and I managed to get a nice smooth finish.

I'd toyed with the idea of messing about with food colouring to get some authentic-looking holly as decoration, and also with buying some edible glitter, but didn't feel especially inspired by what was in the supermarkets. In the end, I thought 'less is more' and just used my new Christmas cutters to cut out some stars and holly (in honour of the two names given to my poorly little cat) and dressed it up with a nice festive ribbon. I was very pleased with the end result; sometimes Christmas cakes can look a bit gaudy in my book!

And so to the taste. I was really pleased with the cake: it retained its moisture and had a lovely flavour, not too overpowering with brandy. It didn't feel dry, or sticky: the texture was just right. I also liked the balance between cake and marzipan + icing. Because I'd kept the layers quite thin, you didn't get a massive sugary hit from the topping, just a nice balance with the cake.

Baker's verdict: this will do nicely as a Christmas cake to make year on year. Enjoyable and straightforward to make and very tasty.

Husband rating: 7.5/10 - great Christmas cake, but I'm not a massive fan of Christmas cake. Tasty, but not my kind of cake.

Mum and Dad rating: 9.5/10 - the only thing which would improve this is bigger pieces of cherry.

Mother-in-Law comment: 'the best I've ever eaten'. 

26. Chocolate Victoria Sandwich

At the request of my friend Rachel, who asked for either a Victoria Sponge or a chocolate cake, I rustled this up for afternoon tea. Because of the size of my tins, I had to adapt the recipe slightly (just by using the Victoria Sponge guidelines), but something I was really surprised about was the relatively small amount of cocoa used. It also wasn't sifted in with the other ingredients, but mixed with a little water first - not how I'm used to making a chocolate sponge! Not suprisingly, the cake didn't look very chocolatey when it came out, nor did it smell very chocolatey. Having the Devil's Food Cake as a comparison didn't help, but this (as you can see) was a very pale chocolate cake indeed! It did seem to bake differently compared to the Victoria Sponges I've made - it actually feel apart a bit when I put the buttercream on. I did flip it over a bit on the cooling rack though, trying to keep the indentations off the top of it, and know I shouldn't have done that. Lesson learnt: don't manhandle warm sponges! The filling and topping was just the usual buttercream, with some chocolate grated on top. It tasted nice, but just generically of 'cake'. It didn't feel like a chocolate cake experience to me at all!

Baker's verdict: a good cake, but not a yummy one. Easy to make, but definitely needs more cocoa!

Husband rating: 7/10 - nice sponge cake but nothing chocolatey about it.