A few months ago, gripped by baking fever, I purchased Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I quickly decided to embark upon a mission to bake everything in the book, and turn myself from an occasional baker into a bit of an expert. My Grandad Ern was a Master Baker by trade; the man responsible for introducing Danish Pastries to England in fact, and I wish it had occurred to me to spend more time learning from him, rather than simply enjoying the fruits of his effortless labours. This project is almost a way of making amends for that; I'd like to follow in his footsteps (if not in my career, at least as a hobby) and continue the proud heritage of baking in my family.
I credit my friend Rachel with the idea to write a blog about my baking exploits, hoping that there will be more successes than failures as I attempt all 213 of the Queen of Baking's recipes.
So as not to bore the husband with a monotonous diet of sponges, followed by weeks of biscuits, I've decided to tackle the recipes by selecting the first bake from each chapter, followed by the second recipe and so on. I'm not going to pick and choose; I'm determined to face my baking demons and learn how to do everything baking-related, even if the consequences are disastrous!
Everything will be photographed, with comment about how I found baking it, and a husband rating (to be taken with a pinch of salt as he has a very selective cake-tooth).


Sunday, 9 December 2012

Mince Pies

Here is my first attempt at homemade, totally from scratch, mince pies. After having a very disappointing experience with some 'luxury' shop-bought ones, I was even more keen to make my own, and determined to make the mincemeat myself as well. No short-cuts for this baker! Unfortunately Mary doesn't have a recipe for either mincemeat or mince pies in her book, so I had to look elsewhere. I turned to Nigella for the mincemeat recipe and found it very straightforward, except it didn't specify how small to cut the apples, so I've got some quite big chunks! It consisted of bramley apples, raisins, currants and glace cherries, as well as chopped blanched almonds. Dark brown sugar was melted into some dry (Suffolk) cider to start with, and then all the fruit was added, to then simmer away
for about 30 minutes - until the mixture became 'pulpy'. I'd anticipated the apples turning to mush, which was why I didn't cut them too small. In the end, I fished as much apple out as I could be bothered to, and cut the chunks smaller. I'd already sterilsed the 4 x 50g jars by washing them in hot soapy water, rinsing them with freshly-boiled water and then drying them in a warm oven, so all that remained to do was add 6 tablespoons of brandy and distribute the mixture across the 4 jars, sealing them nice and tight. I used the rubber-seal jars rather than classic screw-top ones; they were what I found when shopping, but they also look good for gifts. We sent one of our friends home with a jar for Christmas. 
One week on, and I thought it was time to tackle the pie-making. Husband did a quick bit of research on his phone to find a recipe and stumbled upon one on the BBC Good Food website which had favourable reviews. I'm going to add the recipe here - as much for my own future reference as anything else - as this is a real gem and produced fantastic mince pies. I'd been worried about my pastry; I've made a lot over the years, but it's always been a bit tough and I've never made really short pastry before, which is essential for good mince pies. Well, this was so short you could never hope to roll it out and fiddle about with pastry cutters and perfect-looking pies. It was simply a case of pressing balls of pastry into the moulds, filling it with mincemeat and then flattening out a lid with your hands before laying it on the top. I experienced lots of crumbling and splitting, but just had to have faith that all would be well in the end. I knew they'd tast bloomin' good, owing to the amount of butter and caster sugar included. It took me a long time to make them, and I did get myself a bit hot and bothered with all the elbow grease involved, but now I feel confident with them, I'll go into full-on Christmas mince-pie production (to use up all the mincemeat!) They baked for 20 minutes and were cool enough to dust with icing sugar after about 45 minutes of being out of the oven and cooling on a wire rack. They didn't look beautiful; 'rustic' is the most favourable way to describe them. That said, they did look very appetising. You just knew they'd be good to eat.
Baker's verdict: quite fiddly and labour-intensive (the whole process), but so rewarding. I don't think I'll buy mince pies from a shop ever again. Best tasting mince pies I've ever eaten. Lovely cold, or warm with some creme fraiche.
Husband rating: 10/10 - the perfect mince pie. Buttery, crumbly, great filling. The best mince pies I've ever had.
 
Recipe:
Rub 225g of cold, diced butter into 350g of plain flour. Add 100g of golden caster sugar and a pinch of salt. Bring together into a ball, kneading briefly.
Pre-heat the oven to 180 (fan) and lightly grease 18 holes of a bun tin.
Form the pastry into walnut-sized balls and press into the tin.
Measure out 280g of mincemeat and divide the mixture between the pies (about a teaspoon in each).
Pat smaller balls flat in your palms to make the lids and just press lid and base together.
Beat 1 egg and brush the tops of the pies with the egg wash.
Bake for 20 minutes until golden; leave them to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then use a knife to gently lever each pie out of the mould (they come out very easily).
Leave to cool and then dust with icing sugar.
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