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Showing posts with the label baking

Sourdough treacle tart

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This is a decadently delicious tart, and a fine example of how a few basic store-cupboard ingredients can quickly deliver on richness, flavour and visual impact. Who doesn’t have a tin of golden syrup in the cupboard (probably out of date but as it’s made from inverted sugar it really does not go off)? You might think using sourdough breadcrumbs in this is an affectation but I did it for two reasons. I make all my own sourdough at home, so I always have leftover crusts and I hate throwing them away. Plus, I was interested to see whether the slight sourness from the crumb would have any flavour impact on the extremely sweet filling. And it does. It adds a dimension that is subtle but noticeable, and improves the balance of flavours. To make it even simpler, you can use shop-bought shortcrust pastry, or even a pre-baked pastry shell (I won’t judge. Or tell).  And if you’re making your own pastry you could substitute dairy-free spread and make it vegan. You ...

Potato bread

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I was asked to cater a private celebration lunch and the star of the menu was to be a whole suckling pig. When you have such a statement main course, I think you need to hang back on the accompaniments and keep things simple but they do also have an important role to play, the most important of which is to mop up all the lovely piggy juices. I wanted something slightly more special than potatoes or bread, so I combined the two and made potato bread. There are quite a few recipes online but in the end I devised one myself and I was really pleased with the results. It went down really well with the lunchers, too. Ingredients You will need 3-400g of cold mashed potato - make extra next time you're cooking, or make it ahead of time. Don't add seasoning or butter to the potato, just mash and set aside.   1tsp dried active yeast (or 1 sachet quick yeast or 15g fresh) half tsp sugar 450g strong white bread flour 12g salt 1tbsp vegetable oil 300-350ml warm water In a sma...