Simple Sourdough Loaf, and Episode Four of Bread

My sourdough journey has been somewhat bumpy, to say the least, and it has kind of derailed my mission to follow and bake from each episode of Paul Hollywood's TV series 'Bread' as the two weeks it took me to cultivate my sourdough starter meant that the series had ended before I got chance to turn the oven on...

That being said, I think it is fair to say that if Paul's mission was as he said to get the British baking bread, he has certainly succeeded with me - if I put half the amount of effort that I have taken in researching, practising, debating and fine-tuning my sourdough into my day-to-day life, I'd be some sort of multi-millionaire genius by now! 

I've documented the trials and tribulations I experienced actually cultivating my sourdough starter (Gizmo II) here, and am pleased to report that he is now healthy and residing on the bottom shelf of the fridge so that he only has to be fed once a week. When it came to making my sourdough loaf, I used Paul's recipe, which you can find on the BBC website here, and made just a few changes;

Gizmo II and my already well worn copy of 'Bread'

• I used half the amount stated of strong white flour, and made up the rest with rye flour, as I wanted the rye flavour
• As I don't have a banneton or proving basket, I liberally floured a mixing bowl, and used that to get my shape

Sourdough proving in a mixing bowl for shape

• I used a mix of strong flour and semolina to dust the baking sheet and the top of the loaf to prevent it from spreading outwards when baking. 

Dusted with flour and semolina and ready to bake

I was really pleased with the texture and taste of my sourdough, I'd never actually tasted one before, so didn't know what to expect, but it reminded me a little of the real ales that my Dad used to drink, quite a hoppy smell and taste. I can tell you that it was absolutely divine, both on it's own, and topped with scrambled eggs and grilled tomatoes for breakfast! Mmm... 

My finished sourdough loaf, fresh from the oven

DIY McBreakfast: Homemade Sausage and Egg Breakfast Muffins

I've been blogging now for eight months, and I can honestly say I love everything about what I do on this site, from experimenting to sharing tried and tested recipes, setting myself challenges to reviewing new products. I go to sleep thinking of new recipe ideas, and I can't wait to finish work at night so I can fire up the laptop and check my messages. But the biggest thing to come out of my blogging has been discovering that I cannot help competing with every major food supplier out there. I simply cannot walk down a supermarket aisle, or eat out, without starting to think... "I could make that." And Gary doesn't help, in fact the opposite, he knows me so well, and he deliberately goads me "Oh you couldn't possibly make chocolate eclairs..." he says, knowing full well that once he's said it I won't rest until I've proved him wrong! Which is exactly what happened when we were sat watching TV the other night, and an advert for a well known fast food chains breakfast menu came on...

Let me tell you, when that well known fast food chain took it upon themselves to take an English muffin, and fill it with sausage meat, egg and cheese, they were really onto something, and as always, homemade is soooooo much better than takeaway. Making these at home, you get light fluffy muffins, freshly made sausage patties, and whilst I couldn't possibly tell you that this is a healthy morning meal, at least you know exactly what has gone into it, and you get to eat it hot from the pan, rather than after it has been sat on the side for 20 minutes bathing in its own grease!

Homemade Sausage and Egg Breakfast Muffin

The quantities listed here make 5-6 English muffins, which will keep for up to 2 days if placed in an airtight container.

To make the English Muffins;

7 grams fast action yeast
125 ml tepid water
75 grams natural yoghurt
225 grams strong white bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
handful of semolina

• In a medium sized bowl, dissolve the yeast in about half of the water. Add the remaining water and the natural yoghurt, and mix well until smooth and combined. 
• Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the salt and quickly stir. 
• Pour the liquid mixture into the flour, and mix together to make a dough.
• Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead well for 5 - 10 minutes until a smooth pliable dough is formed. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave to prove for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. 
• Turn the dough back out on the surface, and knead quickly to knock back. Roll the dough out to about 2 cm thick, and cut out rounds about 3 inches wide. Knead the offcuts back together, re-roll and continue to cut out rounds until all the dough has been used. 
• Place the rounds on a lightly floured baking tray, sprinkle the semolina over the tops, cover, and leave again to rise for about 40 minutes.
• Heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Place the muffins in the pan, and cook for about 7 minutes on both sides. Keep the heat down low so as not to burn the outside of the muffins before the inside cooks. 
• Set aside to cool. These muffins can be kept for a couple of days in an airtight container, just halve and toast and they are ready to eat. 

Freshly cooked English Muffins

To make into Sausage and Egg Muffins;

50g sausage meat per patty
1 teaspoon bread crumbs per patty
salt and pepper to taste

eggs
sliced cheese

• To make the sausage patties, mix the sausage meat well with the breadcrumbs and salt and pepper. transfer the mixture onto a well floured surface, and roll out to around 5mm thick. Cut into 3 inch rounds. 
• Coat both sides of the rounds with the flour, and fry in a hot pan with a little oil, for about 4-5 minutes on both sides. (You can make the patties up to 24 hours in advance, just wrap individually in clingflim once coated in flour and keep in the fridge).
• Once the sausage patties are cooked, set aside to keep warm. 
• Take the muffins, and slice in half. Place under a grill or in a toaster to toast. 
• Fry the eggs, turning over halfway through so that yolk cooks through entirely. 
• To assemble, layer up the bottom of the muffin, add a slice of cheese, the sausage patty, and the egg.

• Finally, place the top half of the muffin on, and there you have your very own DIY McBreakfast!

The main thing I noticed when we bit into these is how savoury they tasted compared to the ones from the fast food chain. There must be a huge amount of sugars added to the muffins and the sausage meat in their version!

I am entering this recipe into Made with Love Mondays run by Javelin Warrior at Cookin w/ Luv as a great example of making a well known meal at home, and totally from scratch!

Caramel Latte Cake

I've been meaning to make a coffee cake for a few weeks now, but have been putting it off, because, if I'm honest, they never live up in reality to the image in my mind. I like my cakes moist and packed with flavour, and I tend to find coffee cakes dry, and monotone in taste - I guess I've just never found the right recipe. So I was quite excited when, in the middle of an insomnia fuelled sleepless night last week, I came up with this gem of an idea, and when it came out of the oven even better than I had hoped, I just had to share it with you all... 

Caramel Latte Cake... tastes just like a Caramel Latte!

This cake isn't the most polished or fancy to look at, and I did toy with the idea of adding an additional layer of frosting to cover the 'poke-holes' however I decided that it would unbalance the flavours, which are just perfect as they are. It is based on my favourite coffee-based drink, the sweet, creamy Caramel Latte, and it captures all of the taste of one of those heavenly drinks in a beautiful slice-able form. This is a cake to eat, not just look at!

The stroke of genius in this recipe is switching out the majority of the sugar for condensed milk, which adds a more gentle sweetness to the cake, and produces a moister, creamier texture to the sponge - this is definitely something that I will be trying again in future recipes. I had also seen a few American posts about 'poke' cakes, where you make deep holes in the sponge to absorb the moistness of the frosting all the way through the cake, so decided to employ this tactic to this bake as well.

Ingredients;

For the Cake...

175 grams unsalted butter
50 grams caster sugar
3 eggs
200 grams condensed milk
2 tablespoons instant coffee
1 tablespoon Tia Maria or coffee based liquor
1 tablespoon water
200 grams self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

For the Caramel topping...

160 grams condensed milk
80 grams butter
80 grams caster sugar
2 tablespoons Tia Maria or coffee based liquor

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, and line an 8 inch square cake tin with baking paper. The baking paper is essential to this bake, to allow you to be able to easily remove the cake from the tin once the caramel has cooled.

Take a large mixing bowl, and beat the butter until soft and creamy. Add the caster sugar, and cream together for a minute. Add the eggs, and the condensed milk, and whisk together to form a creamy batter.

In a small bowl or cup, dissolve the instant coffee in the water and Tia Maria (if you don't want to use the liquor, use two tablespoons of water instead). Gradually add this to the mixture and beat well until combined.

Add the flour and baking powder, fold well into the mixture, then transfer the batter to the prepared cake tin. Spread it evenly to each of the sides of the tin to ensure an even rise.

Place the cake in the oven to bake for around 30 minutes, or until the sponge is firm, and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Meanwhile, whilst the cake is baking, make the caramel topping. Put the condensed milk, butter and sugar in a saucepan, and the Tia Maria if desired, and place on a low heat.

Heat gently until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolved, then bring to the boil, stirring continuously, until the mixture turns a pale brown colour. Take off the heat and set aside.

As soon as the cake is removed from the oven, and still in its tin, take a wooden spoon, and using the handle, make a series of holes in the cake, pushing the handle right down to the bottom of the tin. Space the holes about an inch apart.

Pour the warm caramel mixture over the cake, making sure that it runs into the holes made. Spread the caramel evenly over the surface, and place on a cooling rack, leaving the cake to cool completely in the tin.

Once cool, use the edges of the baking paper to lift the cake from the tin, then remove.

This cake is moist from the extra liquid in the condensed milk, and gooey from the caramel running through the whole cake via the poke holes. The sponge is delicate, and not overly sweet as there isn't a lot of sugar in the cake batter, which sits well with the sweetness of the caramel frosting. It absolutely tastes like a caramel latte from your favourite coffee shop chain!

Soda Bread, Welsh Rarebit and Episode Five of 'Bread'

For the last five weeks, I have dedicated most of my baking time to mastering the right techniques for baking bread, as it was a skill I felt I was lacking. My mission coincided with the start of Paul Hollywood's new TV series 'Bread', and each week I have reviewed the episode, and attempted to bake at least one of the loaves featured, with varying results! I am skipping an episode in my write ups here, as episode four covered sourdoughs, and work commitments have prevented me from starting to grow my starter culture, however rest assured when I get back from Belgium this weekend this will be the second thing to do on my list (after giving Gary a big hug of course!).

So, brushing past sourdoughs for now, episode five of the show was dedicated to soda breads, known by bakers it seems as 'the easiest of the breads'. The main thing to know about soda breads is that they vary from most other forms of bread due to the fact that they don't contain any yeast, the raising agent instead being bicarbonate of soda - hence the name. The magic occurs within soda bread due to the combination of lactic acid, found in buttermilk, and the soda reacting to form carbon dioxide, which in turn creates the bubbles that texture the loaf. This chemical reaction is instantaneous, which negates the need to knead and prove the dough as with yeast-based breads, therefore soda bread is a great option for when time is short. 

Soda Bread

As with previous episodes, I have used Paul Hollywood's recipe, however this week for a couple of reasons I have had to make a few substitutions. Mostly this was down to not being able to purchase the correct ingredients in my local supermarket, and as I fear this may be a common problem depending on where you live and/or shop, I am going to share my amended version of the recipe, to show you how substitutions can be made. If you want Paul's original recipe you can find it here. 

The two main changes I made here were substitutions for not being able to find either plain wholemeal flour, or buttermilk in the supermarket. To compensate for the plain wholemeal, I used a self raising wholemeal flour, and halved the amount of bicarb of soda, as the SR flour already contains a rising agent. To compensate for not having buttermilk, I mixed normal milk with sour cream and a little lemon juice, which together creates the same properties as buttermilk. Here's my version of the soda bread recipe;

Ingredients

250 grams plain flour

250 grams wholemeal self raising flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

150 ml sour cream

270 ml semi-skimmed milk

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees, and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. In a large mixing bowl, sift both the flours together, add the salt and the bicarb of soda, and combine. In a jug, mix together the milk, sour cream and lemon juice together and set aside for a few minutes. Then, gradually add the fluids to the flour mix, stirring with a wooden spoon, to form a dough. Tip the dough out onto a floured surface, and bring the dough together into a ball without kneading it as this will prevent the bicarb from doing it's thing. 

Shape the dough into a ball, and then pat it down to form a flat-ish round. Transfer onto the lined baking tray, and using a sharp knife cut into four sections. Leave the four sections in one full round, as they will join together as the loaf bakes. 

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until golden in colour, and hollow sounding when tapped on the base. I checked my loaf a little too early here, and one of my sections broke off as I moved it, as the dough was still sticky in the centre. Once the loaf is cooked, remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool. 

Taking inspiration from Monday's episode of 'Bread' I decided to turn my first ever loaf of soda bread into a Welsh Rarebit for our lunch. I started again with Paul's recipe as a base, but made a few adjustments based on ingredients and our own tastes. Paul's recipe is here, or mine is below... (pick mine!) 

Welsh Rarebit

Ingredients

120 ml semi-skimmed milk

1 tablespoon plain flour

200 grams grated mature cheddar

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

90 grams bread crumb (roughly two slices)

1 egg yolk

Method

Heat the milk in a saucepan until it starts to boil. Add the flour and whisk well, making sure there are no lumps of flour in the mixture. Continue to whisk over the heat until the mixture starts to thicken a little. Add the grated cheese, and again whisk in, until the cheese has melted and forms a sauce. Add the mustard powder and the worcestershire sauce, and stir well. Add the breadcrumbs, and mix in thoroughly, the mixture will start to thicken to a paste, and will ball up in the pan. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and set aside.

Cut slices from the soda bread loaf, and place under a grill to toast one side. Whilst the bread is toasting, take the cheese mixture, add the egg yolk and beat together.

Remove the bread from under the grill, turn each slice over, and spread the cheese mixture thickly over each piece. Return to the grill, and cook for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is bubbling and starting to colour. Remove, and serve hot. 

I am entering this post into this week's Made with Love Monday feature hosted over at Made w/ Luv by Javelin Warrior, as the whole meal was made totally from scratch, including the bread. 

Black Forest Cupcakes

I'm off to Brussels for a few days for work this week, which means three bake-free days (boo) and a lot of networking (boo again). In the interest of making sure that Gary doesn't suffer too much from cake-withdrawal in my absence, I offered to bake him something to keep his sugar levels up, to which he replied that he wanted a Black Forest Gateaux. After explaining that this might not be the best bake, considering the fresh cream would prevent it from keeping well, we compromised on a "black forest flavoured" alternative. Basically, as long as it had cherries and chocolate I was onto a winner! 

Black Forest Cupcake

I started with my absolute go-to chocolate cake recipe as a base for these cupcakes, and started to raid the cupboards for additions to make up the Black Forest elements. The flavourings here might be a little unconventional for any fresh cream and cherry purists out there, but I can promise that this recipe makes 12 sweet, fruity and yet chocolaty, perfect little cupcakes.

I have used maraschino, or glace cherries in this recipe over fresh ones, firstly because that happens to be what I had to hand, but secondly as I wanted the sweetness of the cherry syrup to cut through my dense rich chocolate cake. I have further enhanced the fruit flavour by adding Grenadine, a non-alcoholic fruit flavoured syrup mostly used in cocktails. Whilst not necessarily made from cherries, (my bottle has raspberries and strawberries on the label, although traditionally Grenadine is made from pomegranate or blackcurrants) the sweet syrup complements the flavours of the maraschino cherries and works well in these cupcakes. You could omit the Grenadine from this recipe if you didn't have any, and use the syrup from the jar of maraschino cherries instead. 

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes;

50 grams dark muscovado sugar

25 grams good quality cocoa powder (I use Green and Black's)

125 ml boiling water

1 tablespoon Grenadine

65 grams unsalted butter

75 grams caster sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

115 grams plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda

12 maraschino cherries

For the vanilla buttercream frosting;

250 grams unsalted good quality butter

500 grams icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

To decorate;

cocoa powder

12 maraschino cherries

Grenadine

Method:

Sift the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl, and add the dark muscovado sugar. Pour over the boiling water, and whisk to form a syrup. Add the tablespoon of Grenadine, mix again, and set aside. 

In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy, then add the caster sugar and beat again until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla extract, and mix well. Gradually pour in the cocoa mixture, whisking continuously, and stir until all the ingredients are well combined. Use a spatula, and make sure there is no butter left on the bottom of the bowl. 

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, and add the baking powder and bicarb of soda. Mix well. Add the flour mixture to the batter, and fold in. You will have quite a loose runny mixture once it is all combined. 

Divide the mixture between 12 cupcake cases. Take the 12 maraschino cherries, and chop each one roughly into quarters, sprinkling the pieces across the top of each of the cupcakes. 

Bake the cakes at 180 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes, until they are springy to the touch. Remove from the oven, and cool completely on a cooling rack. 

To make the buttercream frosting, beat the butter in a large bowl until creamy, then gradually add the icing sugar, a little at a time. Add the vanilla extract and the milk around halfway through, then continue until all the icing sugar has been incorporated. The mixture should have a whipped cream-like consistency. 

Finally, to decorate the cupcakes when cool, transfer the buttercream to a piping bag, and pipe swirls onto of each of the cupcakes.

Dust the top of each with a little cocoa powder, place a whole maraschino cherry on the top, and drizzle a little of the Grenadine over. (I did this by pouring a bit at a time into a 1/4 teaspoon measure and then drizzling from there in order to not pour too much at once). 

The finished cupcakes are rich and chocolaty on the bottom, with a hint of cherry, and then topped with a light buttercream, and a sweet drizzle of fruit from the Grenadine running through... mmmm...

I am entering these cupcakes into this month's Tea Time Treats, hosted by Lavender and Lovage, and What Kate Baked, where the theme this month is Fairy Cakes, Cupcakes and Muffins. 

Cheese and Tomato filled Bread Rolls

I have a lot of work to be doing, a lot of blog posts to finish, some guest articles to write, and a few cakes to plan and prep for. I should absolutely, definitely not be making cheese filled bread rolls... So, here are my cheese filled bread rolls!

Cheese and Sun-dried Tomato filled Rolls

I hadn't made any bread yet this week, and I'm going to be honest, I've been missing it a little bit! After studiously watching 'Bread' for the last three weeks, and then attempting to recreate the loaves each week, I feel like I'm about to hit a stumbling block in the shape of sourdough starters! Watching the latest episode, the process of create the starter, feeding it, allowing it to grow for a week, is somewhat daunting, and I'm not even going to try and attempt it until the weekend. 

Meanwhile however today, I decided to get a little bit creative with some dough. I have seen a few recipes out there for these tasty looking filled rolls, it seems to be something of a trend at the moment to bake fillings into bread, creating flavoursome ready to eat sandwiches. I love the concept, it's basically lunch on the run, no slicing or buttering required! 

Using what I could find in the house, here's how I made them...

Ingredients

For the dough;

- 580 grams strong bread flour

- 5 grams salt

- 7 grams yeast

- 100 ml olive oil

- 300 ml warm water

- 1 egg, beaten

- handful of sesame seeds

For the filling;

Anything you want!!!! I used 100g cheddar cut into cubes, some chopped sun-dried tomatoes and a sprinkle of rosemary, but you could use any cheeses, cooked meats, vegetables and herbs you wanted. 

Method

• Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the salt, and mix well. 
• Add the yeast to the warm water and stir. 
• Pour the olive oil over the flour. Add a third of the water and yeast mixture, and start to mix the dough together. 
• Add another third of the water, mix again, and then as much more of the water as needed to bring the dough together.
• Turn the dough out onto an oiled work surface, and knead for around 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
• Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm, and put in a warm place for at least an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. 
• Meanwhile, prepare your filling, by chopping all of the ingredients and mixing together in a bowl. 
• Once the dough has proved, tip it back out of the bowl, and knock it back by kneading it for a couple of minutes.
• Divide the dough into eight equal parts, and cover with clingfilm to keep the dough from developing a crust. 
• Take each of the eight pieces in turn, roll them up into a ball, then pat down to make a flat round. Place some of the filling in the centre of the dough, then fold the edges up into the centre to seal the filling inside. Turn the rolled up dough over, and place on a greased baking tray, with the seam on the bottom. 
• Repeat with all eight pieces, then cover with the clingfilm, and place the tray into a large plastic bag, ensuring no air can get to the dough. 
• Set aside for a further 45 minutes to prove again.
• Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. 
• Once the second prove is completed, remove the plastic bag and the clingfilm. Brush the tops of the rolls with the beaten egg, and then sprinkle the sesame seeds over the buns.
• Place in the oven, and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until golden brown, and the rolls make a hollow sound when tapped lightly on the base.
• Remove from the oven, and serve hot, or leave to cool and take them for your lunch, it's your choice! 

Definitely NOT A Cornish Pasty

Disclaimer: This may look like a Cornish Pasty, it may even taste like a Cornish Pasty, but it is definitely NOT a Cornish Pasty... I think! I say this because, a) it's my own recipe, and I am not Cornish, b) it was made in my kitchen in Chesterfield, and therefore under the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status it cannot claim to be a Cornish Pasty, and most importantly c) my partner and in-laws are from Devon, and due to the Devon/Cornwall rivalry, I fear I would be disowned for making something 'Cornish'. I have even had to change the way I eat my scones... 

So this is my Northern, hybrid, slightly less than proper way of making a C*****h Pasty. From here on in we will refer to it simply as 'pasty'. 

Ingredients - makes 6 - 8 medium sized pasties. 

For the pastry

- 225 grams strong white flour

- 225 grams plain flour

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1 teaspoon sea salt

- 125 grams butter

- 2 free range egg yolks

- 100 ml cold water

- 1 egg, beaten, to glaze the finished pasties

For the filling

- 300g rump steak

- 1 small onion

- 1 small swede

- 2 large potatoes

This is the 'totally-by-hand' method to make the pastry, although if you are blessed with a food processor you can use it to mix up the pastry also. Start by sifting the flours, salt and baking powder together, and mix well. Cube the butter, and rub into the flour to create a breadcrumb like texture. Add the eggs yolks, and mix through using a fork until well combined. Now, add a third of the water, and mix through using the fork, repeat with another third of the water. A dough should now be forming, slowly add a little more of the water until the dough comes together into one piece. Knead the dough briefly so that it holds together, then roll up into a ball, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for an hour. 

Meanwhile, chop the onions, potatoes, swede and beef. Ideally, all the ingredients should be in equal sized pieces. Put a little oil in a frying pan, and shallow fry the onions until soft. Add the swede and potato and flash fry for just a minute, and then take off the heat and set aside.

Pre-heat the oven to around 170 degrees Once the pastry has chilled, remove it from the cling film, and roll it out to about 3 - 5 mm thick. Using a dinner plate or similar, cut out circles from the pastry. I used the inside of an 8 inch tart tin, to make some smaller sized pasties, it depends how big you want them to be. Bring the offcuts back together and roll out again to cut out more circles. Try to avoid doing this too many times, as you don't want to overwork the pastry. 

Now, add the vegetables to the beef, season generously with salt and pepper, and mix well.

Now, to make the pasties, divide the filling evenly between the pastry circles. Take the beaten egg, and brush around the edge of half the circle. Fold the pastry in half, and press the edges together. 

Starting from the left hand side, twist over a small amount of the pastry edge, pressing it back into itself. Holding the fold in place, move along the edge, and repeat the action, creating a crimped edge. Continue all the way around the pasty, when you get to the other end, tuck the final piece of pastry under itself to finish the edge. 

Place the crimped pasties on a lightly greased baking tray, and brush all over with the remaining egg wash. Bake for approximately 30 - 40 minutes, depending on their size. When they are cooked, they should be a deep golden brown all over, and make a hollow sound when tapped.They should also be firm on the base. If needed, for the last 5 minutes of cooking, remove them from the baking tray, and place back onto the oven shelf to allow the heat to get directly to the base. We don't want any soggy bottoms!

Once golden all over, remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack. Serve hot or cold, for lunch, tea or dinner, or as a mid afternoon snack. Pasties will keep well for a couple of days in the fridge, and can be reheated. 

The classic Cornish pasty is made from potato, swede, beef and onion, however, as these are not Cornish, you could also use carrots, sweet potatoes, any ingredient really, and are a great way to use up leftovers. Which is of course, what the Cornish pasty was originally used for. As these are made from cheap and ready ingredients, I am entering them into this month's Credit Crunch Munch, run by Camilla at Fab Food 4 All, and Helen at Fuss Free Flavours. 

This month's Credit Crunch Munch is a blog hop... here are some of the other entries.

Chocolate, Orange and Almond Biscotti and Episode Three Of 'Bread'

It's becoming something of a mini-tradition (ok, so it's happened exactly three times so far) for me to sit and watch the latest episode of Bread, notebook in hand, gazing in awe as Mr Hollywood finds yet more ways to turn flour, yeast, salt and water into all manner of different shapes, colours and textures, whilst Gary taps away at the computer on the other side of the room, trying to humour me. At the end of each episode, I turn to him, and ask his opinion on which of the breads shown in the episode I should attempt to make next, and we have one of those great conversations where I think out loud, and he mumbles agreement with whatever I am saying, and then I happily toddle off to find the bread flour.

I knew that this week was going to be different however as soon as the camera panned over a shot of Paul dunking crisp biscotti into his Chocolate Mocha dipping sauce, and the typing from the corner of the room stopped... "I want those please" was pretty much all I heard for the next 10 minutes.

So this week I made the Chocolate, Orange and Almond variation of biscotti from Paul's book (complete of course with the accompanying dipping sauce!) The full recipe can be found here along with two other variations, Pistachio and Cranberry, and Hazelnut and Date. 

Chocolate, Orange and Almond Biscotti

I found this recipe easy to follow, everything came together as described, but it does involve getting your hands dirty to bring the biscotti dough together at the beginning. My only issue really is that I didn't get a strong chocolate taste from my biscotti, and they are no way near as dark and rich in colour as Paul's. I can only think that maybe my chocolate wasn't as high in quality, as I used exactly the right quantity from the recipe? The orange flavours came through really well however, and the almonds added a great texture. 

All in all though, I would thoroughly recommend this recipe, it's quick in terms of bringing the dough together, and the longer bake times are more forgiving than a normal biscuit, where an extra 30 seconds can be all it takes to take a bake over the cliff. Plus, they look really impressive when you serve them to guests with their cup of tea! 

In terms of my 'bread-ucation' project, I did feel like I cheated a little bit this week, as although Paul says that the biscotti are made from a bread dough, I still feel like they don't really count. To counter this, I did make some Naan breads to accompany a homemade curry tonight, using a recipe for Curried Naan breads from 'Bread' although I omitted the sultanas and mango. They turned out really well!

Curried Naan Breads

I've also tried my hand at a white bread loaf, and some homemade pizza this week, and have been really pleased with the results... I think I might finally be getting somewhere!

Sausage, Mushroom and Pepper Pizza

Traditional White Bread Loaf