Daring Bakers Challenge December 2010: Stollen Wreath

December is always a great month for the Daring Bakers challenges. I look forward to seeing what new seasonal treat we are presented with and past years have never failed to disappoint. This year was no exception – Stollen – a much loved German fruit bread, that is traditionally log shaped and filled with a centre core of marzipan. For this challenge we were also required to bake the Stollen in the shape of a wreath for a festive take on this classic.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration. As it’s the festive period we have been given a range of days we are allowed to post on – so I’m not breaking any rules by posting early this month!

Stollen is not something I consider a ‘must have’ at Christmas time, although it does often make an appearance in our household over the Christmas period. The thing I love most about Stollen is the sweet sticky centre of marzipan that runs though the middle. This particular recipe didn’t call for any marzipan, but I soon rectified this by adding a snake-like length of it to the centre of my wreath, as to me, the marzipan centre is what makes Stollen great.

This recipe involved quite a bit more work than I first anticipated. It requires a fruited and yeasted dough to be made a day ahead, before it is rolled out, rolled into a scroll, made into a wreath, slashed and baked. Although not complicated, all the little stages were quite time consuming but it was a fun way to spend a few hours.

This recipe makes a lot of dough and you end up with a huge thick wreath. Rolling the dough out flat was one of the biggest challenges, I don’t think I have ever attempted to roll out so much dough before, it really got the arm muscles working!

I made my Stollen gluten free by using a mixed gluten free flour blend from M&S. I used slightly less flour than the recipe stated as I am learning from experience that gluten free flours tend to absorb more moisture during baking than wheat flour and so I was careful not to add too much. I also replaced the candied peel with dried apricots as I couldn’t find a brand which didn’t list wheat as an ingredient. The resulting dough was very sticky but extremely attractive to look at, speckled with the purples, reds and oranges of the dried fruits. It also smelt delicious with the mingling of citrus zests, rum and spices.

I rolled the dough out in-between two layers of clingfilm which helped prevent it from sticking to the work surface and made rolling it into a log shape easier. Once assembled and baked I couldn’t wait to sample it. My first slice was still warm from the oven and it was light, soft and tender. The fruits were sweet and chewy and the marzipan soft and gooey. Delicious.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid to say that I had some later on in the evening and found that the Stollen had become quite dense and heavy. I gave it a quick burst in the microwave, which did help revive it. However, the following day it was also inedible. It had become very dry and dense, so much so that it was hard to slice and not enjoyable to eat. Stollen is a naturally dense and dried bread than most baked goods, but this was almost like a house brick. I’m afraid to say that I threw most of it in the bin. This upsets me as I hate to waste food and hardly ever throw anything away, especially when it contained so many tasty ingredients but it really did turn out to be a bit of a failure.

Looking back on it now I think I would do a few things differently. I would use even less gluten free flour, as I’m sure they helped suck the moisture out over time. I would also see if less baking time helped and I would also add some xanthan gum to try and give the bread a better rise and open texture. As I used gluten free flour there was no gluten to help support the gas bubbles created by the yeast – which I suspect led to the bread being heavy and dense. Oh well, gluten free baking is still a learning curve to me. It looked impressive, I had fun making it and I did enjoy that first slice.

Stollen Wreath

Ingredients

60ml lukewarm water (43ºC)
2 packages (14g) active dry yeast
240ml milk
140g unsalted butter
760g plain flour (I used 700g of a gluten free plain flour mix containing rice, potato, maize, tapioca & buckwheat flours)
115g caster sugar
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon extract or orange extract
135g mixed peel (I used 100g dried apricots instead)
170g firmly packed raisins
3 tbsp rum (or orange juice if you prefer)
12 red glacé cherries, roughly chopped
100g flaked almonds

Melted butter for coating the wreath
Icing sugar for dusting the wreath

The Day Before

Soak the raisins in a small bowl with the rum or orange juice and set aside.
Pour the warm water into a small bowl, sprinkle with yeast, stir to dissolve and leave to stand until bubbling for 5-10 minutes.

In a small saucepan combine the milk and butter over a gentle heat until butter is melted. Leave to stand for 5 minutes until lukewarm.

Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add the lemon or orange and vanilla extracts.

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange and lemon zests. Stir in the yeast mixture, eggs and the lukewarm milk-butter mixture. Mix with the help of a spatula for about 2 minutes until it forms a soft, slightly sticky ball. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl with either plastic or a tea cloth and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

Add in the mixed peel (I used chopped apricots), soaked raisins, cherries and almonds. Mix with your hands to incorporate, be gentle or the cherries will get very squished.

Sprinkle (gluten free) flour a work surface, turn out the dough and gently knead to distribute the fruit evenly, adding additional flour if needed. The dough should be soft and satiny. Knead for approximately 5 minutes (Gluten free dough will take less time as there is no gluten to develop). You can tell when the dough is kneaded enough as the dough will become tacky rather than sticky.

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight.
The dough becomes very firm in the fridge and rises slowly. The raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week and then baked on the day you want.

On Day of Baking

Remove the dough from the fridge and leave it to come back to room temperature, about 2 hours. Line a large square baking tray with greaseproof paper and set aside.
Generously dust a work surface with (gluten free) flour and roll out the dough into a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches and ¼ inch (5mm) thick. (My dough was still very sticky so I rolled it out between two sheets of clingfilm to make it easier).

(I also rolled out a long rope of marzipan at this point which I placed along the bottom edge and rolled the dough around, to encase it in the centre of the dough).

Starting with a long side, roll up tightly, forming a long, thin cylinder.

Transfer the cylinder roll to the sheet pan. Join the ends together, trying to overlap the layers to make the seam stronger and pinch with your fingers to make it stick, forming a large circle.

Use kitchen scissors to make cuts along outside of circle, in 2-inch (5 cm) intervals, cutting half way through the dough.

Twist each segment outward, forming a wreath shape. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with clingfilm.

Proof for approximately 2 hours at room temperature, or until puffy and risen. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C with the oven rack on the middle shelf.

Bake the Stollen

Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for a further 20-30 minutes. It should bake to a dark golden colour and sound slightly hollow when tapped.

Transfer to a cooling rack and brush the top with melted butter while still hot.
Immediately tap a thick layer of icing sugar over the top through a sieve or sifter. Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over the first as you want it coated generously with the icing sugar.
Leave to cool for at least an hour before transferring to a plate and serving. It will take 3-4 hours to cool down completely.

When completely cool, wrap the stollen and plate in clingfilm. Or, leave it out uncovered overnight to dry out slightly – for a dry outer crust German style.

Makes one (very) large wreath or two traditional shaped Stollen loaves

Soft & Chewy Sourdough Pretzels

Recently I have been hankering after pretzels. I don’t mean those small dried crispy kind, but the big, doughy, wonderfully chewy kind. The only problem is that they don’t seem to exist in the UK (apart from maybe in London which isn’t exactly nearby). I’ve only ever had two, what I consider, genuine pretzels – once in Germany on a school exchange trip and one last year in Chicago. They were so good and I’ve been longing to taste one again but although I’ve searched, I’ve never found one. On reflection though this could be a good thing as mass produced pretzels in the UK would probably result in some horrible dry cardboard tasting pretzel shaped bread – sort of like our bagels. A dense piece of bread with a hole it in, that has to be toasted to be edible, isn’t a proper bagel people – unless you’ve tasted freshly made genuine bagels you don’t understand the pure joy of a true bagel – again I have America envy. Ok, enough about bagels (but grrr it does annoy me) anyway back to pretzels. Unable to get my pretzel fix I decided the only option left was to make them myself.

I spent an interesting few hours sifting through many pretzel recipes online and finally settled on one by Alton Brown which had good reviews. Of course me being me I decided to adjust the recipe slightly to make use of my sourdough starter which I started a few months back.

The dough came together well and was quite sticky before its prebaking swim in a pot of boiling water. This is the same technique used for bagels; it tightens the gluten in the flour and results in a wonderfully chewy texture and glossy appearance.

Some of my pretzels came out a little misshaped but this made each one unique and obviously homemade which I loved. Once baked I took a bite and was rewarded with the taste and texture I had been hankering after for so long. A crisp golden surface and a soft, chewy interior with little hits of saltiness from the sea salt on top. Heaven!

I ate my first one dipping it in mustard – a tip I was shown in Chicago and then another one split in half and filled with a little cheese for lunch. The only problem is I was so excited about how they tasted like ‘real’ pretzels that I made my family taste them too and now there’s none left! Better go make some more…

Soft & Chewy Sourdough Pretzels
(Modified from pretzel recipe by Alton Brown)

Pretzels*
200g sourdough starter
250ml warm water
475g strong white bread flour
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp salt
50g unsalted butter

Pre-baking liquid
2.5 litres water
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

To glaze
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
Coarse sea salt

*If you want to make non sourdough pretzels then add an extra 100ml water, 100g flour and 7g dried yeast.

Method
Combine the water, sugar, flour, sourdough starter and salt in a large bowl. Melt the butter and drizzle this over the top.
Use a wooden spoon or spatula to start to bring everything together but then switch to your hands when it gets thicker. Mix the dough well, kneading it as well as you can until it begins to form a dough. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead for 5-8 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and tacky to the touch rather than wet and sticky.
Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough inside. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This will take about 1 – 1½ hours.
Preheat the oven to 230C. Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper and set aside. Bring the 2.5 litres of water and the bicarbonate of soda to a rolling boil in large saucepan.
Meanwhile, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a long rope, about 2 foot long/60cm. Make an upside down U-shape with the rope, holding each end in your hands. Cross the ends over each other twice, holding them above the bottom of the U. Then take the ends and press them into the base of the U to form a pretzel shape. Place them on the baking tray while you shape them all.

Lift each pretzel and place it gently, but quickly, into the pan of boiling water. Only do one at a time. It will sink to the bottom of the pan but after 30 seconds it should rise up and float to the top. Lift out using a large spatula and repeat with the rest of the pretzels. (This is what makes them lovely and chewy. They should be a little firmer and slightly glossy in appearance).
Beat the egg yolk and water together and brush over the tops of each pretzel. Sprinkle with a little sea salt.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until a rich golden brown colour.
Once baked, transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly before enjoying warm – either on their own, dipped in mustard or split in half and filled.
Makes 8 large chewy pretzels

Note: Click here to see a video on how to shape pretzels. Here they’re making cookies, but technique applies to dough pretzels too.

Summer Pudding

This is the perfect summer dessert to enjoy on a warm summers day and a great way of using some of the fruit I picked at Grove Farm recently. It encapsulates all the vibrant, zingy, fresh, fruity, sweet flavours of summer berries to form a truly divine dessert. It’s amazing how gently heating the summer fruits and encasing them in a bread lined bowl can transform already wonderful tasting berries into something truly spectacular.

When you think about it – mushed up berries encased in soggy bread – it doesn’t sound particularly appealing but in reality it’s fabulous. The berries juices are a vibrant red, shiny and glossy while the fruits are soft and sweet, their natural summery flavours personified by being tumbled together, while the gentle heating breaks down their sometimes tough outer skins.

The colour and flavour of the berry juices is outstanding. I even used some of the leftover drizzled on my morning cereal and yogurt.

The bread eagerly absorbs the fruits juices while retaining just enough of its structure to remain intact when turned out. Cutting a slice reveals the mingled berries tucked inside as they tumble out in a pool of their own glossy juices.

As I knew this particular summer pudding was to be enjoyed by adults only I decided to add a bit of extra indulgence to the pudding – black cherry liqueur and Crème de Cassis (blackcurrant liqueur). Not too much, I didn’t want to actually taste the alcohol, only highlight and deepen the fruitiness of the berries.

I used the cut off crusts of bread to mop up the little blobs of berries and juices I had managed to spread around the kitchen and oh boy did it taste gooooood. I was almost tempted to do away with the chilling and firming stage and just dig straight in but with no pets or small children to use as scapegoats I managed to restrain myself until later when I enjoyed it with my family. It was worth the wait.

So simple, so summery, so unbelievably good and it’s healthy too! It has to be one of my favourite ways to enjoy the summer berry bounty. I urge you to give it a go. If you’d like to make mini individual ones, click here to see last years post.

Summer Pudding

Ingredients
400g strawberries
250g raspberries
200g blackcurrants
100ml water
100g caster sugar
6 slices of white bread
1 tbsp black cherry liqueur or Kirsch
1 tbsp Crème de Cassis

Method
Sort through the raspberries and blackcurrants and remove any bits of twig or leaf before placing them into a saucepan. Destalk the strawberries and cut them into halves or quarters so they are about the same size as the raspberries. Add to the pan with the rest of the fruit.
Pour over the water and heat gently for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the fruits start to break down and release their juices.
Stir in the sugar and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Then stir in the cherry liqueur and Cassis and remove from the heat.
Pour the berry mixture into a sieve placed over a bowl to catch the fruits juices. Transfer the juice – minus its fruit back into the saucepan. Bring the fruit juices to the boil then allow to bubble for 1-2 minutes until slightly reduced and syrupy. (You want to do this after removing the fruit so some of the fruit remains intact).
Remove the fruit juice from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Slice the crusts off the slices of bread and cut one slice in half. With another slice, cut out as large a circle as the bread will allow, ideally about 4inches, for the base of the bowl. You will need about 3½ slices to line the sides of the bowl, the circle for the base and the remaining 1½ slices for the top. You can check if you have enough by testing it out in the bowl or pudding basin you are going to use.
Your glass bowl or pudding basin should be 6inches wide at the top and 3inches at the base and about 3inches deep.
Dip the base circle of bread into the glossy fruit juices in the pan, don’t leave it for long or else it will go too soft to handle. Turn the bread over to soak the other side before placing it into the base of your bowl or basin.

Dip the side slices of bread in the juices, one at a time and use them to line the sides of the bowl, overlapping them slightly so there are no gaps.
Once fully lined, pour the strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants into the centre, smoothing out the surface. It should reach nearly to the top of the bowl.
Dip your final 1½ slices of bread into the fruit juices and arrange over the top of the fruit to act as a ‘lid’ (save the rest of the fruit juices to serve with the pudding later). Gently press down the side pieces of bread, over the top of the ‘lid’ and cover the top of the bowl with clingfilm.
Place a small plate or saucer on top of the pudding and weigh it down with something heavy, weights from your scales or large tins of tomatoes are ideal.

Place the bowl on a small tray to catch any juices that may seep up and out of the pudding while it rests. Place in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours to chill, condense and firm up.
Once ready to serve, remove the clingfilm and run a small round bladed butter knife around the top edge of the bowl to loosen any fruit juice than might have air dried slightly and gone sticky.
Place a large serving plate over the top and flip the whole lot over. Give the pudding basin a little shake and the summer pudding should release from the bowl and hold its shape well. Drizzle over some of the reserved juices.
Serve in generous slices with some more of the reserved juices and cream or ice cream if desired.
Serves 6-8

Light Rye Sourdough Bread

Sorry I have been absent for a while but my last 10 days have been very hectic. Each night I told myself ‘I will write a post tomorrow’ and yet by the time I went to bed again I still hadn’t managed it. Yesterday I actually had a free day and got to relax and decided that some therapeutic, slow rising, bread baking was in order.

One of my favourite breads is sourdough and another is rye. I just love their depth of flavour, thick chewy crusts and wholesomeness. Being able to make my own sourdough, using a starter made from scratch is something I have longed to do for a long time. I did attempt to make a sourdough a few months back but I neglected it and it failed, however for the last three weeks I have been nursing a new batch of sourdough and yesterday seemed like the perfect time to give it its first test run.

The first week of a sourdough starter does require a bit of work, you have to remember to feed it every day, but after this it only need tending to once a week which is much easier to manage. I found having a specific day to feed the starter helped me remember it.

During its resting times in between its weekly feeds it tends to separate a little as the natural yeasts and flours work their magic. It develops a dark sort of skin on top and some murky liquid underneath which is on top of the gummy flour mixture. The first time I saw this I was rather alarmed, but just give it a bit of a stir and feed it with the flour and water mix and it is perfectly alright. The little bubbles that appear on the surface let you know it’s alive and happy.

My sourdough is what’s known as 100% hydration starter. This means it contains an equal quantity of water and flour. I find this the easiest one to work with when attempting to turn it into bread.

Anyway, onto the bread. As the only yeast used in the bread is the one naturally occurring in the sourdough starter, the bread will need long slow rising compared to if additional yeast was added. This is not a problem if you have a day a home to give it the odd knead and it’s actually very therapeutic and enjoyable to see it grow and develop before your eyes.

The resulting bread is completely worth the effort! It was amazing! The best loaf of bread I have ever made. A great flavoured thick crust, a soft light crumb and divine aroma. It was good enough to rival that of any bakery bought bread. I also proved it in a well floured bread basket which helped give it an authentic slashed pattern on top. I was so proud of it.

If I’m being critical, it wasn’t quite as sour as I would have liked, but as my starter is still very young, I am sure it will get more sour as the starter matures. I’m definitely going to be baking plenty more things with it in the future so I’m sure I will find out. You don’t have to limit the use of the starter to just loaves of bread either; it can also be used for pizzas, waffles or cinnamon buns etc.

Light Rye Sourdough Starter – 100% hydration

Day 1 – 100ml water, 50g white bread flour, 50g rye flour
Day 2 – 100ml water, 75g white bread flour, 25g rye flour
Day 3 – 100ml water, 75g white bread flour, 25g rye flour
Day 4 – 100ml water, 75g white bread flour, 25g rye flour

Every week – 50ml water, 50g white bread flour OR rye flour

Method
Day 1: Mix the water and flour together in a large bowl and leave it a warm place for 24 hours.
Day 2: There should be a few bubbles visible. Mix in more of the water and flours. Return to a warm place for a further 24 hours.
Day 3: There should be some bubbles and the starter may look a little separated, this is fine, just mix in water and flour as before and leave for another 24 hours.
Day 4: Repeat as for day 3 and leave for a final 24 hours.
Day 5: By this time your starter should be well on its way. It can now be covered with clingfilm and kept in the fridge. Leave for at least another week before attempting to bake with it.

Every week, even if not using, you need to remove the starter from the fridge and feed it with 50ml of water and 50g of white or rye flour. I like to use white and rye flours each alternative week. This keeps the starter alive and keeps a good light rye flavour.

After a week the starter will probably have developed a slight skin on the surface with a murky pool of liquid underneath and then a gooey mixture at the bottom. Don’t be alarmed, this is perfectly normal. Just give it a stir and feed it and it will be quite happy.

When used for baking, add 100ml water and 100g flour to the starter to help it maintain its bulk. When stored like this and fed regularly starters can literally be kept and used for decades. The longer they are kept, the more the flavour they develop and the moister and more sour your resulting bread.


Light Rye Sourdough Bread

400g white bread flour
100g rye flour
300ml lukewarm water
180g sourdough starter – 100% hydration
10g salt

Method
In a large bowl combine the flours, water and starter together (don’t add the salt!) Mix for 2-3 minutes until combined, it will be quite sticky. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, add the salt and knead in well. Continue to knead for 3-4 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and a little less sticky. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm again. Leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hour.
Knock back the dough and fold it from the corners into the centre, turn it over and repeat the folding process twice more. Then recover and leave for a further hour before repeating the process.
Generously dust a bread basket or shallow bowl. Shape the dough into a round ball and place into the floured basket. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 1½ to 2 hours until risen.
Preheat the oven to 245C and place a sturdy baking tray in the oven to heat up. Fill a shallow tray with water and place in the bottom of the oven to create a damp steamy atmosphere in the oven.
Once the bread has risen, quickly remove the baking tray from the oven and invert the bread out of the basket and onto the tray. Do not attempt to move it once on the tray.
Place the dough into the oven and reduce the temperature to 230C. Bake for 15 minutes and then remove the shallow tray of water from the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes. Then prop the door open slightly using a wooden spoon and bake for a further 5-10 minutes until the bread is a deep golden colour with a crisp crust. (The steaming helps develop a thick chewy crust, the dry heat helps it brown and the bit of air towards the end makes it lovely and crispy).
Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely before slicing.

Makes one large loaf. Keep well for 4-5 days.

Doughnuts

Recently I did something I have never done before but always longed to – I made doughnuts! Normally I am not a doughnut person. I don’t particularly enjoy the taste of cold greasy dough, crystallised sugar and meagre fillings you often get from shop bought doughnuts, however, freshly made still-hot-from-the-pan doughnuts – now those are entirely different. A warm freshly baked doughnut is divine!

When I was younger and used to catch the bus back from school which involved catching two buses. I had to change buses in town and often had a 20 minute wait for the connecting bus to arrive. Rather than sit in the bus station I used to wander off around the town. In the winter months there used to be a mobile dinky doughnut stand run by a little Italian woman. The smell of hot frying doughnuts was so inviting on a cold day and so, couple of times a month, I used to give in and buy a little bag of dinky doughnuts. You had to wait while they were baked fresh in front of you before being generously dusted in sugar and handed over in a little paper bag. Eating those little warm fried doughnuts paid for with my pocket money used to be such an indulgent and comforting experience. The Italian woman who ran it was very talkative and I soon learnt that if you talked with her and said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ she used to give you an extra doughnut for free! It may only have been a mobile stand in the town centre but she was the woman who showed me how a good doughnut should taste and shop bought ones have never compared.

I forgot about the lady and her dinky doughnuts for a few years until recently when I was out in London exploring and smelt the smell of frying doughnuts again and it made me hanker after some freshly baked doughnuts once more. This time I knew I had to try making them myself. These doughnuts are the results and they certainly satisfied my doughnut craving.

I made three different types. Large doughnuts filled with strawberry jam and nutella (not together), ring doughnuts dusted in plain sugar and doughnut holes coated in cinnamon spiced sugar. My favourites were the doughnut holes – the perfect little doughy bites and of course I can’t resist anything with cinnamon.

I used a new gadget for filling the large doughnuts, it’s a food syringe! It worked for the jam but the nutella was rather too thick to pipe properly – messy but fun. I loved biting into one of the big doughnuts and seeing a generous pool of jam seep out. The nice thing about making them yourself is that you can fill or flavour them any way you choose, curd, jam, cream, fruit, custard? Icing, chocolate, sugar or sprinkles on top?

It was so rewarding seeing them bob about and puff up in the hot oil. Once sugar dusted they had a paper thin golden crispy exterior and a springy doughy centre. Best enjoyed while still warm.

Doughnuts

Ingredients
15g fresh yeast
100ml milk
45ml water
1 egg
300g plain flour
Approximately 500-700ml oil for frying

Dusting Sugar
Cinnamon sugar - 60g caster sugar & 1 tsp ground cinnamon mixed
100g plain icing sugar or caster sugar

Fillings
Lemon curd, Strawberry jam, Nutella etc

Method
Warm the milk and water together until warm to the touch but not hot. Crumble in the yeast and stir until dissolved. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the flour and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
Sift the flour into a large bowl. Whisk the egg with a fork to combine the yolk and white and then pour over the flour followed by the yeasty liquid mixture.
Use your fingers to bring the mixture together to form a sticky dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until well combined, smooth and elastic.
Lightly grease a bowl, place the dough into the bowl and cover the top with clingfilm. Leave it a warm place until tripled in bulk, about 1½ hours.
Once proved, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out until half an inch/1.5cm thick. Cut out large rounds, rings or small balls of dough in your desired doughnut shape. (If you make ring doughnuts, don’t discard the middles, they make great doughnut holes when fried).
Lay the doughnuts on lightly floured baking trays and leave to prove for 15 minutes while you heat the oil.
Heat 2inch/5cm oil in a large deep pan until it reaches around 180C. If you don’t have a thermometer, drop a little piece of bread into the oil and if it turns brown in 30-60 seconds then it’s ready. Whatever you do, DO NOT WALK AWAY and leave the oil.
Carefully drop the doughnuts into the hot oil in batches – no more than three large doughnuts at a time. They should float to the top when ready to be flipped over, do this using a large metal spoon and allow to fry for one minute more until golden brown.
Remove the doughnuts from the oil using a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper to drain.
While the next batch are frying, toss the doughnuts in the plain or cinnamon sugar. Fill any large doughnuts with jam, curd or chocolate of your choice with the help of a food syringe or piping bag.
Eat and enjoy while fresh and preferably still warm.
Makes 10-15 doughnuts depending on size.

Tip: Have the sugars ready in zip-lock sandwich bags. This way you can add the hot doughnuts and shake them easily without getting sugar everywhere.

Casserole Dish Baked Bread

I adore the bread you can buy from artisan bakeries. You know the kind - the ones with the thin crisp golden crust, a tender crumb studded with air holes and a nice chew. I have tried many times to create this at home, baking bread on a pizza stone, spritzing the oven with water, brushing the bread with salted water, but nothing has ever come close…until now!!

I recently read about a man named Jim Lahey who has a technique for baking bread in a cast iron pot. I was intrigued and decided to give it a go. All I can say is the photos more than speak for themselves – it was an absolute success! I have no idea who Jim Lahey is but he’s a genius in my books.

The technique involves making a dough that is very moist and wet. This is left to prove overnight before being transferred to a preheated cast iron dish and baked with the lid on.

As it was my first attempt, I used a very simple bread recipe of just flour, water, yeast and a little salt. The dough was very sticky and wet. After its overnight proving you can see just how elastic it became and absolutely full of air holes.

I heated my Le Creuset casserole dish and flopped the dough into it… the results were incredible! It came out perfectly risen with the beginnings of a crust. After a few extra minutes without the lid it became wonderfully crisp and golden. I loved the crack along the top, proving a hint at the texture underneath. The inside crumb was so full of air holes and had such a wonderful springy soft texture whose appearance and taste reminded me very strongly of Ciabatta. If I didn’t know, I would have guessed that the dough was made with olive oil.

I’m guessing that because of the moisture content in the bread, steam is created in the confided space of the pot which helps form the crust while it’s surrounded by the intense heat of cast iron on all sides. This means a wonderful crisp and chewy crust is formed whilst enabling the crumb to remain light, soft and airy in texture.

The bread was just as good as any I have bought from artisan bakeries and I love how rustic and natural it looks, crisp and golden with a few flour streaks. I can’t wait to experiment with other flavours and varieties. I would never have thought of baking bread in a casserole dish but I urge you to give it a go, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

Casserole Dish Baked Bread
(Technique inspired by Jim Lahey)
Ingredients
360g strong white bread flour
1 ¼ tsp salt
330ml water
7g dried yeast

Method
Heat the water until it is just warm to the touch and stir in the yeast. Leave to one side to allow the yeast to dissolve and bubble.
Weigh out the flour into a large bowl and stir in the salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeasty water. Stir with your fingertips until it begins to form a very wet and sticky dough.
Scatter a work surface generously with flour and tip the dough out onto it. Working quickly, knead the dough for about 2 minutes, folding the sides into the middle, it should still be very wet and sticky, so don’t try and knead too much extra flour into the dough.
Return the dough to the mixing bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to prove overnight or for at least 10 hours.
The next day, the dough should be risen and full of large air holes. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knock it back with 2 or 3 kneads and form into a round ball. Dust a tea towel generously with flour and place the dough into the centre. Fold the edges of the towel over the top and leave to rise for 2hours.
When ready to bake, put a sturdy cast iron casserole dish, complete with lid, into a cold oven and preheat the oven to 230C.
Once hot, remove from the oven and quickly flip the bread dough off the tea towel and into the casserole dish. Replace the lid on the dish and return the pot to the oven. Bake for 25 minutes.
Then remove the lid from the casserole dish and allow the bread to continue baking for a further 15 to colour the crust a lovely golden colour.
Once baked, remove from the oven and use a fish slice to lift the bread out of the dish and transfer it to a wire rack to cool.
Makes 1 large loaf