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).


Monday 15 May 2017

96. Crown Loaf

I've fancied making some bread for a while, and upon realising that we were getting a bit short, decided to make this for us to enjoy for our Sunday tea. Although I'd suggested to Elizabeth that she might like to help, I ended up doing this one solo, which was actually a welcome break from having to coordinate someone else.
It was pretty straightforward, with minimal ingredients: just flour, yeast, salt, butter and water, and the process was fairly simple too. Everything behaved as it should: the dough was a bit hard to handle owing to its stickiness, but I managed to get a good rise in the provings (it needed two; the second one being once it was divided into rolls and put into the tin), and it looked great when it came out of the oven.
I initially baked it for the minimum 20 minutes suggested, but let it go for the full 25 in the end, just to be sure that it was properly baked. It was a little darker than I wanted on the top, but it was so well baked once I'd cut into it, that I'm glad I left it in that bit longer. The yeast I had was best before 5 months ago, but it doesn't seem to have been detrimental to the bake, so I'm glad I didn't discard it. We had some of the rolls for a picnic tea (I cut them off, but they did actually tear ok, particularly on the second day) and were really pleased with how it turned out.
 It had the taste and texture of bread you'd get from a bakery: I feel chuffed that I managed to achieve this result at home.
Baker's verdict: easy recipe; great flavour and texture.
Husband rating: 10/10 - perfectly baked; a lovely bit of bread. Can't imagine it being done any better than that.




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