I am always loathe to carp at the Bake Off as I love the programme but I was surprised that the technical challenge this week was a Fougasse, a french flatbread cut to look like a leaf. It was one of the first breads I made, and followers of professional baker Richard Bertinet (he who…
Tag: Baking
Danish Pastries – Round 2
Last week I ran up my first batch of Danish, using only half of my dough to make Pain au Raisin. This morning the second half of the dough came out of the freezer for breakfast and I ran up the second batch, venturing for my first time to make more complex shapes. This did prove…
Delicious Danish Pain au Raisins
The beloved has been asking me for years to make Danish pastries, but for some reason I have been dodging the challenge. I guess it was my first venture into the dough when I made croissants (which you also use for Danish) left me a little daunted. But 5 years has passed since then and…
Creme Patissiere
Creme Patissiere is an absolute Basic. So much more flows from this beauty. All the wonderful Cremes (Mousselline, Diplomate amongst many others), German Buttercream, and of course with a little less cornflour, that absolute British favourite – custard. There are 2 recipes out there – one using flour as the thickener, and one using cornflour….
Porcelain Marzipan Buttercream Cake in Dresden
I have been neglecting my blogging duties and services to baking. We have already been back from “us holidays” for a week and I completely failed to make a single blog post whilst travelling through Germany. I also somewhat failed to indulge in the delights of Kuchen. What went wrong? Well I put it down to…
Trdlnik – a delicious Czech tonguetwister
Hooray! We are on “us travels” as the beloved likes to say when he is trying to return to his northern roots. The house and garden have been submitted to the tender loving care of my little brother and his family for their holidays (I suspect my adorable nieces will be heartily sick of…
Summery Strawberry and Banana Tarte Royale
My brother is over from the States to visit my mother and we had a family get together on Saturday. The hubby made a delicious Shirazi onion, tomato and cucumber Middle Eastern salad and I was tasked with pudding. The specific request was another Gateau Fraisier but whilst it was tempting to iron out the imperfections…
Gooseberry and Thyme Syrup Cake – a rare treat
What on earth happened to the Gooseberry, one of the quintessentially British summer fruits? It was a staple of my childhood and used to always be in the shops at this time of the year. But over the last 20 years it has virtually disappeared from all but the larger Waitrose stores and completely from most…
Chocolate and Orange Layer Cake – a lesson in German Buttercream
What do you do when make too much cake and you have left overs. Well normally in the UK we break it all up and make a delicious alcohol soaked Trifle. However I made a Gateau Fraisier last week and I made far too much sponge and having sliced off the 2cm of sponge I…
A Gateau Fraisier for a Garden Party
Strawberry season is definitely here with a bang and strawberries in season taste so much better than the imported variety bought out of season and they are quintessentially part of the British summer. However it is the French who turn the humble strawberry into a work of culinary art with the Gateau Fraisier, which sounds so…
A Sensuous Summer Berry Gateau
Our old friend Jamie rented a house near us for his 50th Birthday party, and on a glorious English summer day, we spent a lovely 10 hours in the garden drinking bubbles, eating lovely food, playing croquet (always interesting after bubbles), talking about the weather (for we English it is a constant source of fascination) and…
Ottolenghi’s Orange and Almond Syrup Cake – a Birthday Treat
Well it has been a long time since I blogged. The last few months have been dreadful and I have had little time or inclination to sit down and write. But it is time to get back in the saddle. (Cue slightly strange pictures depicting said saddle getting) Firstly though I will give you a feel…
The Cottage Loaf 