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Want to learn how to bake bread? Video tutorial.

January 31, 2012 By 13 Comments

 

IMG 5601 Want to learn how to bake bread? Video tutorial.

Do you know how to bake bread? Have you wanted to learn?

Baking bread is one of those things that sounds so intimidating at first.  When I mention I’ve been baking bread at the weekend, I inevitably get reactions like “Wow, you know how to do that?” or “You must have a lot of free time.”

Au contraire.

I’m a bit obsessed with baking, and especially with baking bread.  I truly believe that cooking more is the key to good health.  Have you ever looked at the side of a packaged bread wrapper?  There are a whole bunch of ingredients, including lots of unpronounceable chemicals (never a good sign).  You know what’s in my bread?  Flour, water, yeast, salt, and sometimes olive oil.  That’s it.

Then there’s another element to bread baking, the intangible stuff.  It’s comforting. It’s satisfying. It’s such a sense of accomplishment. It smells amazing.  You can even use breadbaking as meditation.

I wish I could come to your house and teach you how to bake bread.  But until I can spend my days as a globe-trotting good food teacher, I’m experimenting with the next best thing: video.

So here it is, my very first video which shows you step-by-step, how to bake bread.  

Would love to hear your feedback and ideas for future videos.   Happy bread baking!

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Vintage Cookies: Snickerdoodles

September 19, 2011 By 4 Comments

IMG 4472 Vintage Cookies: Snickerdoodles

I know I am supposed to posting more recipes from my big weekend extravaganza of homegrown produce.  But I got distracted by cookie baking.

This happens a lot to me.

I just love baking.  Especially baking cookies.  Cookies are so quick & easy, there are so many varieties, they make the house smell amazing, and they’re one of my favorite comfort foods.  So it doesn’t take much of an excuse to break out the mixing bowl and start making cookies.  The ‘excuse’ this time was a good one – some very good friends have just moved down the road from us and needed a housewarming gift.  One batch of cookies coming up!

Snickerdoodles are a classic American cookie.  They are soft and chewy, with a buttery, vanilla-y cookie and a crisp outside where they’re rolled in cinnamon sugar.   My UK friends were a bit disappointed to learn that despite the name, these cookies do not contain Snickers candy bars … but they managed to eat the entire batch within a day or two anyway!

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Infused sugars for coffee, cocktails and baking

September 15, 2011 By 4 Comments

IMG 4138 1 Infused sugars for coffee, cocktails and baking

You know when you’re in a fancy food shop and you find the most precious, gorgeous little bottle of something which would add such a magical finishing touch to your recipes?

Then you turn the bottle over and have a little heart attack from the price tag.  And you think “$15 for sugar?!? I could make that!”

One of the best things about learning to make stuff yourself is that most of the time – you CAN make that.

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Make your own vanilla extract – the results!

September 5, 2011 By 2 Comments

IMG 3763 Make your own vanilla extract the results!

Want to try making your own vanilla extract?

It’s super simple and the results are just as good as store-bought – maybe even better!

Earlier this year I tried turning an unwanted bottle of vodka into vanilla extract.  As a baker, I go through a lot of vanilla extract, and it’s not cheap.  I was skeptical about making my own though.  Would it taste as good?  Would it be as strong?  Vanilla extract is so expensive, there must be some secret to it, right?

Oh, I just love when handmade projects turn out so much better than their store bought counterparts!

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Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns

April 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A long, hot, sunny Easter weekend in London.  The perfect time to be in front of a hot oven!  But I was, in pursuit of another English classic – the hot cross bun.

My problem with the traditional hot cross bun is that they are filled with currants, raisins and other dried fruits … and I really don’t like raisins.  So I decided to use my tried and tested switch – to replace any raisins with chocolate chips!  Fortunately I have a large bag of chocolate chips on hand at all times for just such emergency ingredient substitutions.

I used a recipe from Delia and also a recipe from River Cottage Bread as inspiration, but this recipe takes off in a different direction – lightly cinnamon spiced rolls filled with citrus peel and chocolate chips, glazed with a little bit of marmalade.   These are hearty yeast rolls which are delicious split, toasted and buttered (in a toaster oven, please!  No one wants melted chocolate chips in a toaster…).

2011 04 26 Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns

Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns

 

2/3 c. (150 ml.) warm water

1 Tb. dried yeast

1/4 c. (50g.) white sugar

4 c. (450g.) plain flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4c. (40 ml.) warm milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

2oz (50g.) butter, melted

1/2c. (75g) chocolate chips (mini chips would be nice if you have them)

1/4c. (50g) mixed citrus peel

Crosses- 1/4c. flour, 3 Tb. water

Glaze – 1 Tb. orange marmalade + 1 Tb. warm water

 

Mixing: In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, flour, yeast.  Now pour in the liquid ingredients – water, milk, melted butter and egg.  Stir until it comes together into a dough.

Kneading: Turn dough out onto floured countertop or board.  Knead for 5 minutes until dough becomes smooth.  This dough will be a lot softer than your normal bread dough, so don’t add too much flour, let it remain soft.

Press dough into a rectangle shape.  Now sprinkle on the chocolate chips and citrus peel.  Fold the dough in half, press down and stretch to incorporate the chips.  Now fold it over again.  Repeat this process several times until the chocolate chips and peel seem to be evenly distributed through the dough.  Form the dough into a ball.

Rise: Grease the inside of the empty bowl with a little butter or oil.  Place the ball of dough in the bowl, then flip it over (so the top of the ball is now greased).  Cover bowl with a tea towel and leave to rise in a warm location for 1 hour (up to 1 1/2 hours).

Shape: Now we need to shape the dough into buns.  Divide the dough into two equal halves.  Now divide each half, you should have 4 balls of dough.  Now divide them once more – you have 8 balls of dough to form into buns.  Form each piece of dough into a round bun and place on a baking sheet.

Loosely cover the rolls with the tea towel, and leave them to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat: Preheat your oven to 425F / 220c.

Crosses: In a small bowl, stir together 1/4c. flour and 3 Tb. water to make a paste.  Put this mixture into a zipper-type sandwich bag.  Squeeze it all down into one corner of the bag.  With scissors, clip a small corner off of the bag – making a temporary icing bag!  Use this to pipe crosses onto your buns.

Bake: Bake the buns for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Glaze: In a small bowl, mix marmalade and warm water.  Brush over buns as soon as they come out of the oven.  This glaze gives a shiny, slightly sticky finish to the buns and enhances the orange taste.

Serve warm from the oven or toasted with butter.

Makes 8 buns

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Bacon cheddar scones

April 4, 2011 By 7 Comments

IMG 0574 Bacon cheddar scones

I cannot stop eating these scones.  Nor can Zak or his coworkers. They are That Good.

These scones were born out of a crazy birthday gift of an All Bacon Themed dinner.  Every food served during the meal included bacon … even dessert!  (The dessert will not be featured on Vintage Savoir Faire however as it was a bit of a caramelly disaster, but hey, I tried!).  These scones were the accompaniment to the starter salad with bacon-wrapped dates.

These scones are so good that I had to make another batch the following weekend, just because.

Collages Bacon cheddar scones

 

Bacon Cheddar Scones

Adapted from River Cottage Bread Handbook basic scone recipe

300 g. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

salt & black pepper

75g. butter, soft

1 egg

120 ml milk + 1 Tb. yogurt (or use 120ml buttermilk!)

140g (4 strips) cooked bacon, chopped/crumbled – I prefer streaky bacon but you could use British rashers too

75g. grated sharp/mature cheddar cheese

 

Preheat oven to 200c / gas mark 6.

In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt/pepper, cheese and bacon.  Now pour in the egg, milk, yogurt and butter.  Stir until JUST incorporated.  With scones, you want to mix them as little as possible to keep them nice and tender.  Overmixing = hard scones which is not good.  So incorporate in the wet ingredients, and then turn out onto a floured board and shape into a circle using your hands.  Slice the circle into 8 wedges.  Brush each wedge with milk and sprinkle pepper on top.  Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown on top and cooked through.

Makes 8 scones.

 

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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

March 14, 2010 By 8 Comments
DSC01652 300x225 Oatmeal Chocolate Chip CookiesI learned to cook from my mother.  She is the original inspiration for vintage savoir faire.  Mom is a country girl transplanted to the east coast with a bit of 1960′s organic/crunchiness about her.  I grew up with homemade baby food, weekly bread baking, lots of playing in the woods and garden, and an endless supply of creative crafts and projects.
Mom also has a big love of old things.  At one point in my life (oh, between age 11 and 17) I thought this was just totally embarrassing, and that she should modernize things!  Every summer we’d go back to my grandparent’s farm in Iowa, and come home with assorted old books, glass bottles, fabrics etc from the local fairs.  I thought it was such a waste of time and energy when we could be doing fun things – like going to the Mall! (*Groan*) But everything comes full circle, doesn’t it? And now I wish I still had the chance to talk with my grandmother about her earlier life on the farm and sort through the treasures in the attic.
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Apple blackberry muffin recipe

March 8, 2010 By 4 Comments

DSC01385 300x225 Apple blackberry muffin recipeBreakfast crisis on Saturday morning:  no sausages or bread in the house for a Proper English Breakfast!  What to do?!

I usually eat a bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon for breakfast … but on the weekends when Zak  and I eat together, we like to have something a little more interesting.   So this weekend, with sausages nowhere to be found, I dug through the pantry and found the ingredients to make these yummy muffins.

Apple and Blackberry is such a British Autumn combination.   Apples are easy to find year-round, but the blackberries I had stashed away in the freezer a few months ago after Zak’s mom came to visit (she always brings a supply of home-grown produce in-season.  For a city-dweller like me that’s such a treat!).

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Easter Bunny Blondies Recipe

February 22, 2010 By 5 Comments

DSC01418 300x225 Easter Bunny Blondies RecipeMy mother would be proud – I’ve definitely inherited her inability to throw away anything that ‘might be useful someday.’   Especially if that thing involves chocolate!

Going through my pantry the other day (full disclosure: My pantry is really one small kitchen cabinet crammed to the brim – ahh the joys of apartment living!) I found unopened dark chocolate Easter bunny that I had stashed away last year.  Since Easter is just around the corner, I figured I should really use this one up before the new season of chocolate bunnies appear on my doorstep.

OK, I could just eat the chocolate bunny.  But it was the weekend and I was feeling more adventurous.  I’ve been having a wicked craving for 7-layer bars recently, but haven’t quite made the effort to figure out substitutes for graham crackers etc. here in England.  These blondie brownies have that toffee-coconutty goodness of the 7 layer bar, with a very dense chewy consistency.  Don’t be discouraged by the super thick batter (mine was basically a dough) of this recipe, just press it into the pan like a cookie dough.

Plus, you get the added enjoyment of chopping up an easter bunny, if you have a little pent-up frustration to get out icon wink Easter Bunny Blondies Recipe

So, if you have a leftover chocolate Easter bunny – turn it into these delicious butterscotchy, chewy, blondie brownies.

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How to bake a classic white loaf of bread

February 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
DSC00588 300x225 How to bake a classic white loaf of bread

Amanda's Homemade White Bread

What’s the quickest way to make a visitor to your house think you’re a domestic goddess?  Fill your house with the smell of baking bread.  And no, a ‘freshly baked bread’ scented candle doesn’t cut it.

[UPDATE: If you want to learn to bake bread, check out my how to bake bread video for full instructions!  These days I tend to make artisan herb loaf or homemade sourdough, no baking tins needed!]

Mmmm, the smell of baking bread.  Enough said.   To really get this smell, you have to really bake bread. Yes, actual, homemade bread.  No, don’t run away yet. It’s easy!  And you’ll be so impressed when it comes out of the oven (as will the neighbors who will ineviatbly stop in to investigate the delicious smells wafting from your kitchen…)

But can’t I just buy a loaf at the store?

Have you noticed how long bread lasts without going off? How is that possible? Preservatives!

Check out the ingredients on the package. It’s a long list.  With unpronounceable words.  In your fabulous domestic-goddess homemade bread there are just a few ingredients: flour, salt, water, yeast … maybe some fat or some sugar.  Ok, so the loaf doesn’t last as long as the one from the store … but considering how good it tastes, it won’t stick around that long anyway.

Here is a small, easy to handle loaf that I make almost every weekend.

Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s recipe.

Domestic Goddess White Bread

adapted from Nigella Lawson How to Eat

Makes 1 small loaf

300g bread flour

10g yeast

10g salt

5g sugar (or 2 sugar cubes)

170ml tepid

10g fat (I like olive oil)

Put the flour in the tepid water and let sit.  Put the salt, sugar, flour and fat in a mixing bowl.  Stir in the water/yeast mix - this will make a mess at first but then will come together into a sticky dough ball.

Turn this out onto a floured surface. I use a floured pastry cloth (you can also use a thick smooth tea towel that you save just for this purpose).  You can also just flour your countertop.  Knead the bread for 5-10 minutes.  (Knead bread by forming it into a dough ball on the counter, then, with the heel of your hand, smoosh it away from you.  Then pull it back into a dough ball, and smoosh it slightly at a different angle.  Basically just work the dough around a lot during these 5-1o minutes, we’re trying to develop the gluten into a nice, elastic ball).  You may have to add a little bit more flour if the dough is sticking to your hands.

Place in a bowl, cover with a tea towel, and set it in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until the ball has doubled in size.

Now the fun part – punch it down. Literally punch your fist into the inflated dough, and watch it deflate! Poof! Take it out of the bowl, shape it into a loaf, and put it either in your loaf pan, or just as a round loaf on a cookeie sheet.  Cover and let rise again for 1 hour in a warm place.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Bake for 35 min.  You know if it’s done when the top is golden and the loaf sounds ‘hollow’ when you knock it with your fist.

Try to resist cutting until it’s slightly cooled (it will cut easier this way).  Serve with salted butter, jam or honey.  Yum.

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