The Great British Bake Off - episode 6 - Desserts

I'm with Henry Winkler (aka The Fonz) on  this one (actually  I  have a bit of a  soft spot for Henry Winkler and would probably be with him on most things really).  He was on Something for the Weekend a while ago and was invited to make the dessert.  His reply was 'Pudding? We have pudding? I love pudding'.    So I was really looking forward to this episode. And isn't it funny how there is always room for pudding.

The signature challenge this week was a Baked Cheesecake, the technical challenge  a Chocolate Roulade and the show stopper a Croquembouche.

Well, there was no way I would be making this was there

so that's the showstopper out of the way. 

I know a roulade and  swiss roll are different but they both need to be rolled and, again going back to school days, my only attempt at a  swiss roll ended up with a perfectly  square one.  Also I don't have the right size tin for a roulade.  So I shall be making a Baked Cheesecake then. 


Janet made a Rhubarb and Ginger one, Mary-Anne's was Tutti Frutti Curd Baked Cheesecake,  Jo's was Rum and Raisin and Yasmin's Amaretto while Holly made a Father Christmas Baked Cheesecake. They all looked lovely but  I wanted to make Jo's Rum and Raisin Baked Cheesecake and I so hoped the recipe would be on the website and, oh joy, it was.

I have to say nothing went wrong with the buying of the ingredients.  The actual preparation went according to plan.  I somehow managed to actually follow the recipe without incident so the making of it went well and it's time in the oven seemed to agree with it although it was slightly overcooked at the edge and it did crack.  I did add more butter to the biscuit mixture because it seemed a bit dry and to my everlasting surprise when I went back to look at the episode (again after I had made the cheesecake!!!) Paul Hollywood told Jo that she should have added more butter to hers as it wasn't packed enough - yay me!

This is Jo's Rum and Raisin Cheesecake

and this is mine.

The crack looks a bit like the one on Amy Pond's bedroom wall doesn't it (a Dr Who reference for non-aficionados).  Oooops you can see where my oven gloves went into the sauce on the top.

It's still in the tin because of transporting to MO's for Sunday dinner where  I forgot to photograph it when we took it out of the tin until it was sliced and served and JT, bless him,  said 'have we taken a photo?'  I dashed for the camera and here it is sans tin.

I am so chuffed to say my cheesecake was very much liked and I was given 10 out of 10 for it.  The taste of rum was especially appreciated although I don't think I would have won points from Paul Hollywood for it as he felt Jo's was nicely delicate and not overwhelmed with the alcohol.  I soaked my raisins overnight in the rum.  I like overwhelming alcohol and so did the MO and JT household.  I'm going to make it again definitely.

Sadly The Great British Bake Off has now ended. The finalists were Holly, Jo and Mary-Anne, Yasmin having been eliminated this episode and Janet in the patisserie round.  They all did so well but Jo was the winner.  And now my Tuesday nights will be a little bit empty but I have Nigel Slater on Fridays and Lorraine Pascale on Mondays to watch, plan and cook from.  I got so behind with my self imposed Bake Off challenge that I'm two episodes behind but I'm still going to make something from both although I don't know when.  LP, a  lovely member of my family, is giving me the book of the series for an early Christmas present so I might be able to get different recipes to try.  Exciting baking times ahead methinks.

The Great British Bake Off - episode 5 - Pies

I like pies so I was really looking forward to this episode.  Actually, so far I have really been looking forward to all the episodes.  What can I say, I love cakes, biscuits, tarts, pies, puddings, breads and anything else of a fattening nature.

So many pies, so many choices - Holly made Three Cheese, Potato and Caramelised Onion Pie,  Rob made Chicken and Mushroom, Yasmin a Family Fish Pie, Jo also made fish pie, a yummy sounding Salmon and Asparagus, Mary-Anne - Chicken and Bacon, Janet - Chicken and Chestnut, Jason - Brown Down Chicken Pie, all with either flaky or puff pastry.  The required element/ technical challenge was to make Paul Hollywood's miniature pork pie with a quails egg in the centre.  Six of them.  I made a hand raised hot water crust pastry pork pie at school.  It was notable for being a success.   The showstopper was to make a sweet meringue pie using either the French or Italian method. 


Sadly Jason and Rob were eliminated this time.  Jason, who was so sweet and enjoying the experience so much, but  was only nineteen and as Mary Berry said he just lacked the skill and the background.  Rob's charm failed him on this occasion. His showstopper failed miserably, it sort of fell apart because he got his timings wrong again and unfortunately he had used up all his chances with Paul Hollywood.  Paul said he loved their passion for baking and there was a lack of youth in his industry at the moment so when Jason said it was what he wanted to do he was keen to encourage him.

So, to pies.  Again I was limited to those recipes printed on the website so because it looked so nice, was different, I loved all the ingredients and she  used flaky pastry I decided to make Holly's Three Cheese, Potato and Caramelised Onion Pie.

This decision was made a couple of weeks ago but I hit a problem.  The pie fed eight.  I am just me.  So in my usual generous way I invited friends round to eat said pie. Unfortunately they couldn't make it so I made the offer elsewhere.  Unfortunately they couldn't make it either.  I seem to have chosen the busiest two weeks in September as no-one could could come round for pie.

I was now quite behind with my Great British Bake Off challenge.  At this point I really should have looked at my options such as halving the quantity at least, or looking at making another pie which I knew would freeze well (wasn't sure this would).  Instead I developed an obsession.  I would make this pie and I would make it as per the recipe.  What I would do with a pie that big I wasn't going to think about because it was very important I make that pie.  

And make it I did.

And here is where I really should leave it at that and go  on to the next overdue episode.  Pie made, onto dessert.

But I'm not going to.  Dear reader I am going to tell the sad and sorry tale of my pie. 

I made the pastry.  I haven't made flaky pastry  for quite some while as you can now buy quite good ready made pastry in the supermarket.  I had forgotten how much I like making it.  So that went well.  I made up all the different bowls of ingredients for the filling.  A bit fiddly but it went well.  So then I started the layering.  ' Step 11 Layer one quarter of the potatoes, a third of the onions and a third of ...'.  Onions?  Onions? What onions?  I had  completely by passed step 7 - lightly caramelise the onions.  Sigh. Off I went to the cooker to caramelise my onions. Lightly.  And resume layering. I was just about to put the final layer of potatoes on when I glanced round and saw - the remaining two thirds of the caramelised onions.  Softly glistening with butter and still in the saucepan on the cooker. Sigh.  I couldn't bring myself to unlayer so I just dolloped them on top, covered them with the last of the potato and put the pastry on top.  And put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 220 and then for one hour at 180 or until golden brown.


This is Holly's pie going in

and coming out after presumably one and half hours cooking

 

this is my pie going in

it has character!

and coming out after just an hour in the oven

(yes I remembered to turn it down, I think I should have checked on it sooner - I don't have a glass door in my oven - that's one of my excuses)

I know I was going to embrace the quirkiness of my cooking - but really, with this, I think not.   Just as well nobody took me up on the offer of pie.

So, next episode is desserts.  I like desserts.

I am also having computer issues - again.  It took me an hour and forty-five minutes to load these photos.  It took me thirty-five minutes to get into my blog.  I keep losing Internet access mid sentence.  It is a little frustrating not to mention slow.  Hopefully I will post desserts tomorrow (especially as it's the final Bake Off tonight and I still have Patisserie to do before I post that).

Book 4 and 5 - An Uncommon Reader and One Day

We have two books this month in our reading group because one of them is  very short.

An Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett is an odd little book.  Alan Bennett is a well known playwright and wrote  quite an acclaimed series of monologues for television which won lots of awards but which I had never seen because they didn't appeal to me.  The only work of his I have knowingly seen was the film of The History Boys which I loved and wished I'd seen when it was on the stage. 

The Uncommon Reader of the title is the Queen who comes upon a mobile library at the back of the kitchens at Buckingham Palace whilst chasing after an errant corgi.  Deciding to take a peek inside she meets a kitchen servant and takes a book out on his recommendation.  This begins a love affair with reading which she finds challenges her staff somewhat.  As I read it I realised I wasn't really 'getting it' and it was faintly annoying me  but carried on anyway to the end.  The end was worth it.  The last two lines of the book were, I felt, magical.  I laughed out loud. 

This is not something I can say about our second choice One Day by David Nicholls.  One Day is a best selling book that has just been made into a film starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.  I didn't like it.    My niece, who is twenty-one,  said she was finding it quite difficult to get into although she is persevering with it and Mrs Pao was disappointed with it.  I agree with Mrs Pao in that it doesn't deliver what it promises but also I felt quite depressed after reading it.  I do realise that as it has been made into a high profile film I might be in the minority here but that was the effect it had on me.

The story centres on Emma and Dexter a couple of opposite characters who get together for a one night stand  at the end of their very different degrees at Edinburgh university. Despite an obvious attraction they go their separate ways although they keep in touch with each other over the years and become  firm friends.  The premise of the title One Day is that we meet them on the same day every year over a period of about twenty years.   We find out where they are, what they are doing, who they are with, their ups and downs and what developments their relationship goes through.  As Mrs Pao says 'a snapshot'  of their lives.  But I found it to be messy.  Because they don't necessarily meet up on this 'one day', the 364 days in-between need to be brought in some how so that we know what has been happening to them.  And a lot happens to them  as well as lots  changes to the relationship between them.  It all gets a bit muddled.

Many years ago, late 70s I think,  I saw a film called Same Time, Same Place starring  Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn in which a couple who are married, but not to each other, meet and have an affair.  The affair ends but they decide to meet up every year on a certain  day.  They meet only on that day.  They have no contact in between other than to make arrangements. The happenings  of the intervening time is shown through their conversations, their moods and of course how they age.    Perhaps this sort of scenario works better visually.   I liked the film even though there was a certain sadness about it. It's a film I always said I would watch again and although I  never have I remember it with a certain fondness.   I rather wish I hadn't read One Day.

Jellygeddon

Some days as soon as I wake up  I  know things aren't going to go well.  I just have a feeling that it would be best not to indulge in anything with the capacity for catastrophe.  And some days there is no inkling whatsoever that life is going to throw a curved ball in my direction. 

The day I made the Battenburg was one such day. 

After I had made the Battenburg I went on to make Plum and Apple Jelly from a recipe on the Apple and Spice blog site (is that what they are called blog site? or should I say website? I wonder what the correct terminology is?).  It was a straightforward recipe which  didn't require straining juice overnight and seemed to yield quite a lot of jars.  Marvellous I thought.

Of course, having spent such a lot of time measuring and trimming the Battenburg it was quite late by the time I started chopping kilos of apples and plums (dark in fact) but I had survived the Battenburg experience and felt I was on a roll.

I thought it looked quite scrumptious



there was quite a lot of it when it had cooked down

and so I started to ladle it into the jelly bag which was suspended over a bowl on the table. 

No problem.  I had done it a million times before - which was probably the reason for the elastic on the jelly bag giving way causing the bag, full of mushed fruit, to fall into the quite full  bowl of strained juice.  The juice whooshed up into the air and on it's way down splattered the walls and a door before settling on the table and a chair from which it cascaded onto the floor.

I, in the meantime, found myself covered in a liquid that had just been taken off the cooker.  Although in my hair it had somehow avoided my face and upper body but the front of my  skirt was sodden.  So, holding my skirt away from me, I made a dash to the bathroom to take everything off and put cold water on my legs.   I broke the zip on my skirt trying to take if off so had to wriggle it over my head.  My face and tee shirt now had juice on  so I just jumped in the shower in my underwear and began spraying my legs and face with  cold water.  Luckily I didn't seem burnt in anyway, just a bit sticky so when I was clean and dried off I wandered back into the kitchen. 

Putting the apron I should have been wearing in the first place on over my underwear (I decided against more clothes in case my trials and tribulations weren't over)  I found the juice had  slithered, like something from a bad science fiction film, across most of  the floor and under a cupboard door. 

Walking through gallons of wet, sticky juice to get to the mop  I began operation clear up.

That done I went back to what remained of the juice.  I hadn't finished ladling from preserving pan to jelly bag so I began all over again with a new jelly bag.  I wasn't at all sure if it would work as the juice  going through the jelly bag was now quite cool but after it had been returned to the pan and boiled the setting point was reached.  I put the jelly  into  jars which had been sitting in a hot  oven all this time and were therefore well and truly sterilised and to my delight I got four jars of plum and apple jelly

The lids of the jars were a little on the burnt side but it was barely noticeable - really.

I would like to say that I dealt with all of this with an air of quiet resignation.  I did not swear, I did not get stressy and I did not cry.  And I took on board four lessons learned

1.     When looking at the jelly bag with the thought 'hmm that looks a bit full' STOP.  Do not listen to the next thought  'oh I expect I can get a bit more in there'. 

2.     Test the jelly bag for elasticity before using.

3.      Always, always wear an apron.  And if making anything requiring a jelly bag and hot liquid again invest in a pair of wellies for the kitchen. 

4.     Get back on the horse.  I made it again dear reader and it was perfect.

The Great British Bake Off - episode 4 - Biscuits

I had been  looking forward to this episode as I love biscuits.  There is nothing that can't be sorted by a cup of tea and  homemade biscuits or cake.  Sometimes you need both.

I really wanted to make Mary-Anne's signature bake of melting moments but they weren't a featured recipe on the website so it was a choice between Rob's Chocolate and  ginger oat biscuits or Holly's Custard Melts because I wasn't going to make the required element of Mary Berry's Brandy Snaps.  Not just because they looked quite fiddly to do but mainly because they were to be a gift to take to lunch with the A's the next day and I don't think MG would have liked them. 

I actually really wanted to make the macaroons.  They were so pretty.  All the contestants had to make them and were given five hours in which to do it but I didn't have that amount of time, let alone the contingency time I would probably have needed in case it all went pear shaped.  But one day I will make macaroons, when I have a weekend to spare.

So I decided to make Rob's Chocolate and  ginger oat biscuits.   Rob endeared himself to an anwful lot of viewers when, in the first show, he dropped his two tier chocolate cake on the floor just as he was getting it ready for showing and was very upset. A million women, including me, went aaah and wanted to hug him.  It also helps that he is young, has floppy, dark, wavy hair, melting green eyes and dimples in his cheeks when he smiles. He seems to be gathering quite a following on the radio and is regularly discussed by the likes of Chris Evans and Ken Bruce.  Unfortunately Mr Hollywood seems to be immune to Rob's charms.   Rob, although he obviously loves baking, is a little on the laid back side, which Mr Hollywood is not, and he has timing issues, a failing of which Mr Hollywood disapproves.  I sadly think Rob's days might be numbered.

Anyway, the recipe looked quite straightforward and all I had to buy was the stem ginger, which was not at all as easy as I thought it would be.  However, ginger purchased I made the biscuits.

Here are Rob's biscuits

the required quantity of twelve

all the same shape and size (and the pinkness that is Mary Berry)



checking to see if they had the right constituants of crispness without and chewyness within - they did.  Although Paul Hollywood said there was too much ginger.  Rob said there wasn't.  



And here are my biscuits

Rob made twelve, the recipe said it made twelve, I made eighteen. Here are the remaining fifteen, two having been dropped and one eaten. If I had made twelve out of the mixture I had, they would have been the size of small dinner plates



they look the same size as Rob's biscuits - well to me they do

not only did I make six more than the recipe said but they were an awful lot thicker as well



I don't know how it would have happened as I followed the recipe very very carefully but there you go.

They tasted nice and they looked nicer than the photographs allow and The A's were very pleased with them.  They also didn't think there was too much ginger in them.

Next week is pies.  I like pies.

The Great British Bake Off - episode three - Bread

I was a bit nervous about making bread as, apart from the debacle of my school girl attempt, I had only ever made Rachel Allen's brown bread which although successful, eventually, didn't have yeast.  Also it's Paul Hollywoods speciality and he's a bit fierce.  He makes me nervous and I'm not even there,  I'm at home, cooking in my own kitchen - how bizarre is that.

Anyway, there were an awful lot of bread recipes featured.  Holly made a picnic loaf which was a brioche dough with chocolate in one end and onion marmalade in the other.  There was walnut, raisin and rosemay loaf, tear and share cheese and onion bread, zupfe loaf with grueyre, lemon and coriander mini loaves, chocolate chilli buns, sage and oinion rolls, peppercorn loaf and so many more.  I wanted to make the egyptian, dukkah loaf with mixed spices as I happened to have some dukkah in the cupboard but it wasn't one of the recipes on the website.  So, I did it again, I made the required element.  I made Paul Hollywoods focaccia recipe.  But then I like focaccia, had all the ingredients and the recipe said it was easy!!!  So............

Step one -  put the flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and most of the water into the bowl. 

So far so good.  I then mixed it with my hands to form a dough.  Hmmm - okaaaay?

This is where I started to worry a bit.  Kneading for five minutes while slowly adding the rest of the water.  At this point I realised I had meant to watch the recording before I started cooking which would have been especially helpful because I wasn't at all sure I seen any contestants with their hands in as much mush as this - and this was it kneaded!!

But I carried on regardless now 'stretching' the dough by hand in the bowl for five minutes, resisting the temptation to add more flour because I remembered Mr Hollywood's gleefully derisory comments about  those who had added flour at this stage (and many had). So,  after another five minutes of flourless kneading ended up with this

It was so wet and sticky that I found the next bit of kneading, for yet  a further five minutes, on an oiled work surface quite difficult.  Urvashi did her kneading by picking it up and throwing it down on the board over and over again because 'it worked for her'.  Except it didn't  this time because she was eliminated (sadly along with Ian).


I just pushed it around as best I could (again - no flour), put it back into the bowl, covered it,

put it somewhere warm  and waited for it to double in size

This sort of looks double

Then it had to go on two lined baking sheets.  However it was so wet and sticky it was hard to flatten it out and push out into the corners of the tin so I put it on one tray.  I then realised it was going to rise in the proving so I tried to move half of it to another sheet.  It was glued to the parchent.  I couldn't get it off.  So with  misgivings I left it alone, covered it and left it to prove.  Like this

It was at this point I decided to go back to my recording of the programme to see what the finished article  should look like a la Paul Hollywood

This is his focaccia (and his hand)

A couple of contestants had dough as mushy as mine  but  they all managed to push it into the corners of the trays easily.  On viewing I also realised I hadn't put any dimples in the dough.  Still, trying to keep positive, it might go alright, you never know, I was keeping the faith, I went back after it's hour of proving to find it had indeed grown a great deal.  Time for dimples I thought.

However, when I pulled off the food wrap that had lightly been covering my focaccia, this happened

when I finally detached it from the food wrap my dough sank - a lot.  Now a sensible person might say 'using food wrap to cover it while proving is not a good idea - obviously' but I saw someone on the programme loosely cover theirs with it, although yes, most people did seem  to use a cloth so I would say 'lesson learned'.  Anyway not being one to give up I then tried, without success, to dimple.  Then I shoved it in the oven and went to watch Dr Who.

Twenty minutes later this came out of the oven

Not a very good photo I know but I was missing bits of Dr Who here!  The focaccia  was bigger than I thought it would be, it had a crusty top - which is good apparently and when I cut it later (after Dr Who) it looked like this



which I was not displeased with as it had the uneven holes Paul Hollywood said it should have.  Ok, so it probably shouldn't have been just as uneven all over but it was the holes he went on about so I reckon I did alright-ish.

In fact I was quite chuffed as it also tasted nice.  Not focaccia as I've had it before but it was definitely edible and I wouldn't mind feeding it to other people.  I might have to call it something else though.

I would definitely make it again but I wouldn't put so much salt on top before it's baked.  I would add rosemary or chilli or something.  Also I think the topping was too crispy.  This may have been because I put too much olive oil on it before baking.  I don't actually know yet.  I would remember to dimple before proving as well.

I feel quite excited - I can make two kinds of bread now - English Tea Stall here I come!!!

Book 3 - When God was a Rabbit

When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman was such an interesting and inventive  book.  I thought it was well written with mainly likable  characters, some of them wonderfully odd. 

Narrated by  Elly it is the story of her life and her relationships, primarily with her brother but also the rest of her  family, her best friend, her brother's best friend  and her neighbour.   The first half was written from the point of view of Elly as a child and I tend to like that perspective.   There were pointers along the way to some sort of tragedy having taken place and which wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. The story went to a lot of surprising places.   I thought it was  a tale about growing up, coping and acceptance.  It was definitely one of the 'unputdownable' books.