Welcome to my garden

Firstly, I apologise for not blogging for a while.  I've had a maths exam this week, and as usual I was 'cramming' at the last minute.  All done now, and it seemed to go OK.  So, back to baking.  Hurrah!

One of the challenges I've been particularly looking forward to, is making crystallised flowers.  But where to get them?  As Rachel says, you can't use flowers that have been sprayed with chemicals - which probably cuts out most of the ones you'd get in garden centres or florists.  So I thought I'd turn to my own garden.  I really love my outdoor space, and feel lucky to have a good sized garden such as we'd never get with a new build.  Megan is particularly enjoying it at the moment - discovering the joy of being able to toddle around and explore.  On a nice day, she has no need for toys and would happily potter all day.

We don't have many flowers in the  garden, mainly due to a pair of roaming pet rabbits, who eat everything they can.  A couple of years ago, I decided the garden needed brightening up.  So I googled 'plants rabbits hate' and sent Nigel off to Wilko with a shopping list.  He came back with said plants, and we spent a busy afternoon planting pots.  Woke up the next morning, and there was one of the rabbits cheekily sitting on a pot, munching away.  He clearly hadn't read the web page that I did!  So, for the time being the garden will have to stay as it is.  Not that I have much time for gardening anyway!

We are lucky to have 2 apple trees, and I love to see the spring blossom.  It always seems a shame that it's gone so quickly.  So, it seemed a good idea to use it for this challenge.  A way of keeping the spring for a bit longer!  Crystallised flowers are really easy to do.  You just need to paint them with egg white, then sprinkle with caster sugar, and leave to dry overnight.  I made the mistake of painting just the tops!  Checked them in the morning and wondered why they were still soft.  Then I realised, and had to get my egg whites and sugar out again.  The flowers went brown after a few days, and I think maybe that's why - the underside was left open to the air for too long.  They looked gorgeous when they were fresh though - I used them to decorate Rachel's lemon cupcakes...

There are all sorts of edible flowers.  I really like this website, which also gives you some recipes, such as citrus blossom salad and rose petal sorbet.  http://www.thompson-morgan.com/edible-flowers.  It tells you which flowers are edible, and which ones definitely aren't http://www.thompson-morgan.com/poisonous-flower-varieties



If you'd rather not eat raw egg white, I found this link which gives you another method of making the flowers... http://premeditatedleftovers.com/recipes-cooking-tips/how-to-make-candied-flowers/

I'll definitely have a go at crystallised flowers again, but while we've still got the rabbits, I might have to borrow from someone else's garden!  



In other baking adventures, this week I've made Rachel's 'poppy seed cake with vanilla buttercream icing'.  The icing is amazing, and completely unlike any I've made before.  You make a custard with egg yolks; milk and sugar, and then whip it up with softened butter.  Really rich and delicious!  The cake has gone to a friend who's having guests to stay for a family funeral.  I await feedback! 

I've also tried my hand at English muffins.  To form these, you roll the bread dough into a sausage shape and slice 2cm pieces... a bit like making biscuits.  And like my biscuit making attempts, I am hopeless at getting a nice round sausage!  So my muffins were a little misshapen, but tasted good.  I just call them quirky!  I think next time, I'll roll balls of dough and flatten them out.



 

Gorgeous warm with melting butter, or toasted with cheese under the grill.

 

 



Bagels

 

 

'If you've never made bagels before, you may be rather surprised to find that they get their dense chewiness from being poached first and then baked.  I make these in an electric food mixer using the dough hook, but you can make them perfectly well by hand too'.

Rachel Allen, 'Bake', p166

 

 

Well, I promised you a bagel challenge and here I am!  They were surprisingly straightforward to make, and I was very happy with the result. Here's how it's done...

 

You will need...

 

• 450g (1lb) strong white flour
• 1 x 7g sachet fast-acting yeast
• 2 level tsp salt
• 250mls (9fl oz) warm water
• 2 tbsp runny honey
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp treacle or molasses
• Maize or cornmeal, for sprinkling
• 1 egg, beaten
• Sesame seeds; sea salt; poppy seeds or a savoury topping of your choice (optional)

1. Sift the flour and salt into the bowl you plan to make the bread in, add the yeast and mix well.

 

2. Measure the water in a measuring jug, then stir in the honey and oil.  With an electric food mixer on the lowest setting, slowly add all the liquid to the dry ingredients.  Knead on the lowest setting for 10 minutes, checking to make sure the dough is not too wet and adding more flour if it does look too sticky. 

 

3. Turn the dough onto a clean, dry and floured work surface.  Using more flour if necessary, start kneading the dough for 10 minutes.  You may need more flour to avoid getting a sticky dough - you don't want this.  (I actually did carried out this step in my mixer too, just on a higher setting.  It worked well, although my KitchenAid started protesting after about 15 minutes of use and went walkies along the kitchen worktop!)

 

4.Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and turn in the oil to coat.  Cover with cling film or a plastic bag, and put in a warm place for 1-3 hours or until doubled in size. (I put the dough in the fridge overnight, for a slow rise.  It was beautifully aerated the following day...)

 

5. When the dough is nearly ready - doubled in volume - bring a large saucepan of water to the boil (about 4 litres/ 7 pints) and add the treacle or molasses.  Cover and turn off the heat while you shape the bagels. (Even my biggest saucepan wasn't large enough for this, so I used my big stock pot.  I got this from Aldi, and it's proved to be really useful.  I use it for jam making and for large quantites of stew or casseroles.  And now for bagel poaching!)

 

 

Lightly oil 2 baking trays, and sprinkle with maize or cornmeal.  Remove the dough from the bowl, then punch down and knead briefly.  Divide into 7 chunks.  Take one, keeping the others covered with a tea towel.

 

6.  There are 2 ways to shape your bagel.  First, roll each chunk into a 'snake', then bring the ends together and seal with a small amount of water.  Or, roll each chuck into a ball, pierce a hole in the centre and pull the dough open until you can fit your hand inside.  Turn and squeeze, like a steering wheel, to keep it even (I found the second technique easier, I wasn't very good at keeping the 'snake' even as I rolled it along).  There are loads of videos on YouTube if you want to see how it's done.  Place your bagel on the prepared sheet, and make the rest.  Note that the hole will shrink slightly during cooking, so don't worry if it looks a bit too big.

 

7.  Cover and allow to stand for a further 10-20 minutes, for the dough to bounce back.

 

 

Here are my shaped bagels, the 'snake' version at the top and 'steering wheel' version at the bottom.

 

 

8. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/GM7, and heat the saucepan again to a gentle simmer.  Gently lift each bagel into the water and poach up to 3 at a time, for about 1 1/2 minutes on each side.  Remove from the water and allow to drain.  Place on the prepared trays, spacing 3-4 cm apart.  Brush with beaten egg, and add topping if desired.  Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn upside down for a further 10 minutes to cook the bases.

 

 

Et voila!  One batch of bagels, ready in time for lunch. 

 

I enjoyed them in my favourite way, with smoked salmon; cream cheese; a sprinkling of black pepper and some lemon juice.

 

 

Evan had them with jam for his packed lunch the next day, and Nigel enjoyed them with just butter.  For more bagel recipes and topping ideas, I found these websites...

 

http://bagelrecipes.net/

http://bagelnash.com/love-bagels/filling-ideas/

http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blbread26.htm

 

I'd like to try cinnamon and raisin next.  How about you?!

 

Also this week, I've made Rachel's 'chocolate lava cakes', AKA chocolate fondants.  Was a little nervous as this is what always seems to trip up contestants on cookery shows.  The timing is crucial, too long and they set all through like a sponge cake; not long enough and they disintegrate.  Luckily I wasn't on a cookery show, and had time to watch the oven like a hawk!  We all loved them, especially Megan, who grinned her chocolatey approval!