Three Strand Plaited White Bread

I've never made bread in my life, hell the only time I've ever use yeast was when I made a Stollen for my sisters Christmas present. I suppose it says something about me that the first time I make bread I choose to complicate it further by plaiting it.

Although I am afraid I have caught something of a 'bread bug' since I made this. I've made 2 loaves of plain bread (the recipe is to be posted soon) in a week with plans to make at least 1 loaf a week. I mean why wouldn't I? To bake 6 loaves it adds up to about £2.50! You pay that for 2 bog standard loaves in the supermarket!

Anyway, back on to this bread. I was watching The Great British Bake a while ago (Which I do religiously. I adore that programme. I'm team James!) and they were doing plaited loaves. When I first saw them I cringed and hid behind my pillow, crying 'they looks so hard, oh god, don't ever let me make them'...

Yeah.

They are actually ridiculously simple, although they were doing 6 stranded braids and I did 3. But I looked in to it and they themselves aren't really that difficult. Maybe that can be my next project?

Three Strand Plaited White Bread

675g Strong white bread flour, plus extra for flouring
1 1/2tsp Salt
1 1/2tsp Sugar
3tsp Easy blend yeast
1 1/2tbsp Olive oil, plus extra for greasing
450ml Warm water
1 small egg
optional: a handful of seeds to sprinkle over the top (eg. poppy seed, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds etc)

1) Stir together the salt and flour, then sprinkle over the sugar and yeast.

2) Add the olive oil to the water. create a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the majority of the water. Set some aside to help you get the right consistency. Stir together until you get a soft dough, you may have to use your hands to get it to mix altogether.

3) Knead the bread on a lightly floured surface for around 10 minutes, until it's smooth and elastic. If you've never made bread before you may be worried about knowing it's 'smooth and elastic'. Don't worry. When you're doing it, you'll know.

4) Place the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover it with cling film. Leave it in a warm place (for me that's my airing cupboard) for around an hour, until it's doubled in size.

5) Turn the dough out on a very lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, this will 'knock it back', which basically means removing the air.

6) Divide the dough into 3 equal portions (I weighed my dough to get it exact) and roll them into equal sausage shapes. DO NOT flour the surface. You wont get enough friction to roll them out properly.

7) Lay the sausages out and join the ends furthest away from you. Plait like you normally would, keeping the plait tight. When you come to the end squish the sausages together and tuck them underneath.

8) Transfer the loaf carefully onto a lightly floured baking tray. Cover the loaf and return back to a warm place until it's one and a half times it's size. This will take between 10-30 minutes.

9) Preheat the oven 220C/400F/Gas 7

10) Glaze the loaf with beaten egg, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. If you want to, sprinkle with seeds.

11) Bake the loaf for 10-15 minutes and the reduce the heat to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and bake for a further 30 minutes. It's done when it's risen, golden and sounds hollow when the bottom of the loaf in tapped. Enjoy!

Until next time,

Katie.

The Best Fruit Cake Yet

Or so I'm told.

This recipe is from The Good Housekeeping's Cookery Compendium, a book that was published in 1953 and looks every inch it's age. It truly is a beautiful book.

Anyway, this the cake I make when all else fails. When I need to make a cake that gets a wow but only takes me half an hour to knock out.

For those wondering, my sisters and brother-in-laws wedding went spectacularly! I can't tell you how many times I've heard the words 'the best wedding I've ever been to' and 'the wedding of the year'! Congrats guys!

The Effortless Wow Fruit Cake

Ingredients:
225g Butter or Margarine
225g Sugar (whatever you have lying around)
4 Eggs
340g Plain Flour
3/4tsp. Baking Powder
A pinch of salt
1/2tsp. Cinnamon
1/2tsp. Mixed Spice
400g Dried Mixed Fruit
60g Chopped Glacé Cherries
30g Ground Almonds
A splash of Milk

You can double this recipe if you want, but the cooking time then changes to 3 hours.

1) Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 4/350F.

2) Grease and line a baking tin. It's up to you what type you use but I usually use either a 8in square tin or a 8 1/2in circle tin.

3) Cream in the butter and the sugar until fluffy, beat in the eggs.

4) Sieve in the flour, baking powder, salt and the spices (This part is up to you, you can change the spices if you wish. I sometimes just add the cinnamon or replace the mixed spice with nutmeg. It depends on the person you're making it for and the time of year). Then add the mixed fruit, cherries and almonds. Fold it all together, adding a little bit of milk if necessary.

5) Pour into the cake tin and put in the oven. After 30 minutes lower the temperature to Gas Mark 2/300F and let bake for 1 - 2 hours. The time varies every time, so keep your eye out. It should be done when firm in the center.

4) Let the cake cool the either cover in marzipan and icing or decorate with cherries, flaked almond and icing sugar. Enjoy.

Until next time,

Katie.

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Millionaires Shortbread

You certainly feel like a millionaire when you're eating these. The crack of the chocolate, the stickiness of the caramel and the lovely shortbread all make for one hell of a biscuit.

These were made for my brother-in-law's (Well, almost brother-in-law's. They're getting married, in what? 35 days? Ahhh!) birthday. I've been sitting on the recipe for a while, almost a year now. I just couldn't find the perfect time to make it. But when L's birthday crept up on me, I simply couldn't resist any more!

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Millionaires Shortbread

Thanks to the BBC for the original recipe!

Ingredients:

For the Shortbread:
175g Unsalted butter
75g Caster sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract
225g Plain flour

For the Salted Caramel:
200g Unsalted butter
397g Condensed milk (this is usually amount in a can)
4tbsp Golden syrup
1tsp Sea salt

For the topping:
350g Milk chocolate

1) Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 4. Line and grease a preferably square 8in cake tin, or if you're like me and lose everything you ever set eyes on, line and grease a 8 1/2in circle cake tin. Sigh.

2) Mix the butter and sugar together with a fork, then rub in half the flour. Add in the vanilla and then add the rest of the flour.

3) Press the dough into the cake tin. Prick the dough with a fork all over.

4) Bake the dough in the oven for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to Gas Mark 2 and cook for another 35. If you notice that your shortbread has a air bubble in the middle, take out of the oven and whack it on the counter until it goes. Prick it a couple more times and put it back in. It should be alright now. Once cooked set aside to cool in it's tin.

5) Once the shortbread has cooled slightly, you can move onto the caramel. Add all the ingredients into the sauce pan and boil for 10 minutes. Stir constantly making sure you get into all the corners of the pan. If you don't, it will burn. It may be an idea to get someone else to help you while you add all the ingredients.

6) After 10 minutes you can add it to your shortbread. Let it cool, then pop it in the fridge until it's cooled and harden slightly.

7) Melt the chocolate and pour and smooth over the top of the caramel.

8) Pop back into the fridge until it's set. Cut into chunks and enjoy!

Until next time,

Katie.

Coming Soon

Just a quick update to let you know what's going on. I've been brainstorming like crazy to come up with some recipe ideas for the next few weeks. I've been searching for some inspiration, off and online, and I've finally some up with some promising ideas. These are a few:

I'm already looking forward to eating baking them. I've thought up a couple of ideas for other posts as well. I'm thinking of doing a couple of knitting tutorials. Casting on, knit stitch, pearl stitch and casting off. Then maybe I could post some patterns? I don't know. We'll see how it goes.

And just a note of warning, posts maybe slow until September 8th. My sisters getting married on the 8th and I'm Chief Bridesmaid, which means I'm going to be ridiculously busy over the next couple of weeks. But I'll try and post as much of possible.

Until next time,

Katie.

Cinnamon Fruit Crumble

I figured that the first recipe I’m going post on here should be the recipe that got me into baking. Though I should probably give you some back story first. On one typical English morning our food teacher assigned us a job. The job was pretty simple, it was to decide what extra ingredient we should add to a basic apple crumble.

For as long as I could remember I have had a love affair with cinnamon, so that was what I immediately picked. It was only recently that I realised that nearly every apple crumble recipe in existence had cinnamon in. Maybe I knew what I was doing after all?

Probably not.

Regardless, I fell in love with baking that day. And I’ve never looked back.

Cinnamon Fruit Crumble

Ingredients:

For the fruit:
500 - 600g (1kg - 1.2kg) Cooking apples (If you end up with not enough apples you can always bulk it up with raisins or blackberry’s or whatever you've got in your house)
50g (100g) Sugar, brown or white it’s to your preference. I usually use brown.
2 tsp (3 1/2 - 4 tsp) Ground cinnamon
2 tbsp (4 tbsp) Water

For the crumble:
150g (300g) Plain flour
50g (100g) Oats (Optional - more often than not I leave these out)
100g (200g) Sugar, again it’s up to you whether you use brown or white. I usually use brown.
100g (200g) Unsalted butter, soften
1 tsp (2 tsp) Ground cinnamon

This recipe usually gives around 2-3 servings. When we have company around I double it (or when I'm feeding both my father and brother-in-law), the amounts given in brackets give around 5-6 servings.

1) Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 6.

2) Peal and de-core the apples then chop them into bite size pieces. Make sure they’re all around the same size as this will help them cook evenly. Try not to make them too small because when they cook they may turn to mush. If you have to add any additional fruit to get the required weight, do so now. Tip: To keep your apples from going brown, fill a bowl up with cold water and place them in there after chopping. Just make sure to drain them thoroughly afterwards.

3) Put the chopped apples into a large microwaveable bowl, with the cinnamon, sugar and water. Put them in the microwave for 10 minutes (add an extra minute if you’re doubling the recipe) with a lid. Do not let them boil. If you notice they are, stop the microwave for a moment and then carry on until they have cooked for the full 10 minutes.

4) While the fruit is cooking make the crumble. Add the flour and butter to another bowl and rub between your fingers until they resemble bread crumbs. Yes, this job is messy but stay with it, the end product is worth it.

5) Add the oats, sugar and cinnamon and mix.

6) When the fruit is done and has cooled slightly pour it into a large oven proof dish. Flatten them so they cover the base of the dish.

Then add the crumble on top.

7) Put in the over for around 20 minutes and rewarm before serving.

And ta-da! First recipe complete! I hope you like it, feedback is always welcome :). Thank you for reading!

Until next time,

Katie.

I've got a long way to go, but I'm still learning...

Good evening all! And welcome to the very first post on my brand new blog. My name is Katie and I am a passionate baker, photographer and all rounder crafter. I am, perhaps, not the best at any of those things, but I aim to be. This blog is going to be a place where I write about the things I've made, the lessons I've learned and the progression I've made.

My hope is that in, say 6 months time, I'll be able to look back and see how much I've improved. And I want to take you along on that journey, showing you all the new tips and tricks I've found. I've always strived to be the best I can, so why not share that with you?

So here we go, this is the first step into the unknown! I hope you enjoy the journey.

Until next time,

Katie.