Week 9 - Les Misérables

Well hello, fellow readers! Now, I must personally apologise for the slow timing of this post, the fact that bake-off has now finished makes me think that my strict timetable may have slipped a little. Anyways, onward and upwards, the bake-off joy lives on through my very late blog post! However, I must admit I struggled to find the bake-off 'joy' during this bake. I cannot help but think they may be called Les Misérables for a reason.

Patisserie week has been the one I have most feared, you only have to look at my profiterole blog post a few years ago to understand. My Achilles heel if you must. So I decided I must go and do my research before attempting this bake, yes, you guessed it... I went to Paris. (purely for research purposes! The fact that I have a couple of friends living there was a plus.) Anything that would help me with the perfect patisserie, you have to learn from the French! However, I do not think my Paris endeavors helped,  mainly because I didn't even have a Les Miserables! Hopeless.

The Prep
you only have to look at the very long list of ingredients and the thirty-step recipe to know that this will take some time. Time which I didn't have, so I actually made the sponges separate from the rest, as strangely this week I just didn't have four solid hours to dedicate.

The Bake
This one was hard. It had so many elements to it which made it very confusing: a lemon and almond sponge, a pistachio and almond sponge, lemon syrup, raspberry french buttercream, vanilla French buttercream, a thin chocolate base layer and tempered chocolate to decorate. I guess what did I expect for a semi-final technical.

The Result 
Apart from being tedious, it was relatively straightforward. However, my thermometer broke so, unfortunately, the tempered chocolate was a fail. The result, even if they were very mixed on how neat they were and completely different sizes, they tasted brilliant (well, this is what my drunk friends told me when I bought them for dessert for a dinner party).

Glad I tried them, however, don't think I will be making these anytime soon.

Week 8- Forgotten Bakes

It's that time in the week again! This week was a new week for Bake-off, forgotten bakes week. Technical challenge this week: A Cumberland Rum Nicky. To no one's surprise, I have not made this before, and I cannot say I was looking forward to it. However, this bake did pleasantly surprise me!

In actual fact I was dreading it, it looks old fashioned, boring and far too fruity for a chocolate lover like myself. Yet, I had to remind myself the whole reason I was undertaking these challenges was to break free of my chocolate cupcake rut, so a Cumberland Rum Nicky it was!

The Prep
I am going to admit, during my unenthusiasm for this bake I got slightly lazy. I did the worst thing a baker can do- I didn't follow the recipe. I substituted ingredients.. my friends reading this will know this is actually a rather common occurrence when I bake, however, they are also aware of how badly this can go. So I used raisins instead of dates and light rum instead of dark rum. What could go wrong?

The Bake 
First time making short-crust pastry and I was surprised at how easy it was! Compared to all the long kneading dough recipes this was a really nice change. And the lattice (square design on the top) was really not too bad. This bake was so easy. Too easy one might say...

The Result 
It actually went really well. It smelt good, and I was actually feeling proud of myself. I for once wasn't running around the kitchen like a mad woman. Maybe I am getting better? I thought it was so good I brought it to my boyfriend's house for dinner with his family.

A brave move...Once we sat down cutting the first slice, I realised my error. Without dates, it was primarily a raisin pie with few apricots. The standard of meals at their house are high, and this didn't really meet quite up to the usual standard. However, they were lovely, and his dad even said he would make his own pastry. A year ago my dog wouldn't eat my bakes, so I think I'm making progress!

...then I realised I only cooked 1 of the 2 requirements of the bake. I forgot the rum butter. Alas, some things never change!

Week 7- Settimana Italiana

Good afternoon all! Welcome back and yes, the week we have all been waiting for without knowing it, its Italian week! Now if there is one thing I do know ..its pizza, I feel like I have done a lot of research for this technical bake throughout my life. I, like any pizza lover (aka the rest of the world), am a harsh pizza critic so the pressure was on to get this right.

The Prep 
I have made pizza before so thought it would be relatively bog standard, I was wrong. Prue requested 00 flour, and let me tell you this was not easy to find. Turns out it's basically some extra white Italian flour, which came at a price. I was very tempted to just leave it, however, I thought if I am going to do this, I am going to have to do this right. (I forked out for a bloody waffle maker three weeks ago, the least I can do is spend a couple extra pounds on flour). So with my fancy flour and a lighter wallet, I was ready.

The Bake 
I am not going to lie, pizza dough is very easy. However, like any dough, it just takes a bit of time. Fortunately, the overheated house I live in did wonders for the rising. Who needs a proving draw when you have parents who wish to be living in the Caribbean?

My favourite part of this was tossing the pizza to shape it. I was swirling it around, at some questionable heights with some very funky traditional Italian music in the background of course.. have to get into the role.

The Result
For me, it was a disappointment. It was crumbly and didn't have a good chew that I usually enjoy when munching on these cheesy doughy delights. My family and friends, on the other hand, said it was good however they are kind which appears to be an issue when judging my bakes. I think next time around- more kneading, more garlic and more cheese (always more cheese).

Faff: 3/10
Taste: 5/10
Appearance: 7/10

Week 6- Pastéis de nata

We go to Portugal every year and every year I look forward to tucking into one of their pastéis de nata. They are creamy, puffy, Portuguese perfection and they far exceed our rather shoddy English custard tarts. So when I saw that these were the technical challenge for this week I was jumping for joy!

The Prep
Super easy, all the ingredients are very bog standard and would be found in any baker's cupboard. The only thing that slightly took me by surprise was the 7 egg yolks! So we will be having a lot of egg white omelettes as a consequence. And the amount of sugar, no wonder these little puffs of goodness taste so amazing, they are large sugar cubes disguised with eggs. Anyways, not that that is an issue, if you don't like sugar I don't think traditional baking would be for you.

The Bake
This was my first time making puff pastry, so I was going in blind. Paul Hollywood's instructions appear to be rather sparse at times, which shouldn't surprise anyone. However, I think my biggest tip would be to keep your kitchen cold (or put it in the fridge as much as you can!) It makes the pastry easier to work with.

Also this was the only bake where I was literally running around like a mad woman. I had flour all over me, temperature gauges beeping at me, meanwhile trying to separate seven egg yolks as fast as I could. I am not going to lie, I did love this. It felt very authentic and bake off worthy. And yes another milestone, first time I have ever used a temperature gauge while baking! Managed to avoid it during caramel week, but this week it was my time!

The Result
I think they went rather well! The only thing I was slightly concerned about was my oven seemed to give top heat only, so a few had very raw bottoms. But I just put them back in the oven with foil over which seemed to do the trick.

Faff: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Appearance: 8/10

Week 5- 'Molt' in the middle peanut butter cake

 Another week, another blog post! This week melt in the middle puddings (also known as Molten puddings). This is the first bake which I actually have had some experience in! One of my favourite desserts is lava cake so I was feeling an odd feeling I have never felt in this technical challenge project... confidence? no surely not.

When I told my family of the bake, many weren't enthusiastic, 'peanut butter? in a pudding?!', others commented saying it was very 'American'- well regardless I think it would do them good to try more 'foreign food'. However, they were not alone, even Paul Hollywood the creator of this recipe criticised ex-baker off star Martha for exactly the same recipe? - well, love or hate it I was baking it.

Pre-bake
Ingredients were very easy to source, all the things you are likely to have in your cupboard so you would be able to just make this pudding whenever, which was nice... nothing worse than a bake having niche ingredients! However, that being said this bake required pudding holders. As you can imagine I was not best pleased to see this after spending 23 quid on a ridiculous wafer maker. So I rebelled, I refused to spend more money on bakes and decided the humble muffin tin would suffice.

The Bake
Relatively easy for once and so quick, at last! I think the only thing that went wrong with this bake was not accounting the different size pudding tins and muffin tins would be. So I ended up with tons of peanut butter and not enough chocolatey goodness. Equally, I baked them the same time do not all of them were molten.. which was a bit of an issue as that tends to be a requirement for these puddings. 

The Result
For me, they were too sweet and dry. I think too much peanut butter may have been the issue, however for my dad, the biggest critic of peanut butter in a pudding.. well he finished three in one night and is fully converted to the Reese's PJ cup life! You win some you lose some.

*Getting into the food photography 

Cooking from the homeland - Stroopwafel week

I admit the title 'cooking from the homeland' may be slightly over stretching my Dutch heritage, but nonetheless, the pressure was on the get this one right! Yes, week three already, caramel week was in its full sticky glory. Not only did it dawn on me that I've never actually made caramel but this week looked particularly industrial, with temperature gauges and wafer makers making their way into the baking tent. So my commitment to this challenge has reached new heights, having invested 23 British pounds on a wafer maker which I will probably never use again. Was it worth it I hear you ask? That is still to be decided. There was much controversy over this technical challenge through almost all of the bakers having got it wrong, so I didn't have much optimism for this challenge. 

The Bake

Having waited five days for this wafer maker to be delivered you can understand my late timing of this blog post. I had a few hurdles I had to overcome, mostly due to my laziness and lack of accurate ingredients- I decided to be creative. I used golden syrup instead of maple syrup, due to having forgotten to buy it. And the butter I wanted to use was questionably past the best before date.

The bake was actually reasonable easy, maybe the easiest of the technical challenges but definitely the most time-consuming. Waiting for the sugar to completely melt is like watching paint dry, I waited an hour then gave up. The wafer making, on the other hand, was very enjoyable and cutting it open was very easy. 

The Result

These little caramel treats appearance far excelled my expectation, however, the taste seemed to divide opinion. I think the issue was due to the excessive vanilla essence put into the recipe. Now maybe Prue loves it that way but I had a Tesco own brand one and it just tasted far too medicinal and frankly, I couldn't even finish it.. which is saying quite a lot with my sweet tooth! Whether it was the Tescos own brand vanilla essence, the questionable butter or the substitution of maple syrup that affected the taste- that will remain a mystery. Also, I had the same issue with the caramel becoming grainy like the other bakers, Horray, this means I'm basically the same standard right? Anyways, onward and upwards, and on to the next bake. Think I shall leave the stroopwafels to the dutch!

B is for (cottage) Bread Week

Its bread week and round three! I was quite excited for this bake despite an ominous feeling of quite how inexperienced I am in baking let alone bread. Bread is not something to underestimate, the precision is worse than the average cake it can be fatal.. well if your bread's life rests on its structure and taste.. then yes, fatal. Anyways, I am thoroughly enjoying these technical challenges as it really is making me bake things I wouldn't usually bake, as I didn't actually know cottage bread existed before this bake-off. 

So Sunday was bake day, and ... I didn't bake as I felt too hungover- good start. So MONDAY- bread day! This bake has been full of firsts, first time I have ever bought lard. Yes, things just got exciting. Busy kneading away and waiting hours for proving the bread was ready for shaping, and it was not an easy feat. It looked a lot easier on TV, and I made a new rule for myself that I wasn't allowed to youtube 'a how to' as I did have the whole recipe and an infinite amount of time. So I guessed how to knead and shape which actually showed on the end result as the bread came out very lopsided. Looking back I think I over proved, despite plopping my fingers through multiple times the structure was weak. 

So the end result, despite what looked like a complete blob, it tasted brilliant! After hours and hours, at least it tasted nice. To conclude: bread week- taste = 8/10 (quote)- structure... room for improvement. Happy baking everyone, until next time. 

Week two- Fortune Cookies

This week is fortune cookies and watching GBBO I slightly died. Watching these professional bakers sweat, curse over these sugary treats snapping through their fingers only made me more nervous for the bake ahead! But actually, these cookies were not nearly as hard as I thought imagined. In fact, they may have been my best bake yet. The rule is to act fast because they become so hard so quickly there is almost no time to mould them into shape.

The actual batter so incredibly easy even I didn't have a problem, I found a handy trick to get the bubbles out of the mixture I would blow on it. So it was bubble free with a sprinkle of salvia. Lovely I know.


Anyways this bake was so easy the hardest part was to remember to put in the fortune cookies in. Once you have the shape covered, you are good to go, I've got a couple of dodgy shaped cookies- hope that doesn't affect the fortune?

So the fortune cookies went so well, my parents even decided I should make a business out of it. Not too shabby for week two! Stay tuned for week 3 cottage bread next.

The Technical Challenge

Yes, yes I know! its has been far too long since my last post. I apologise to all my fans. It has been such a hot summer the thought of putting the oven on is unimaginable. But not to fear, winter is near! And The Great British Bake Off is back.. (yes I know, but it's Mary Berryless and lacking a mel-sue-ffle) But I would say it wasn't a complete disaster as I would have expected, in fact, I was pleasantly surprised. It still has the same light-heartedness and impressive bakes that made it so lovable. As for the newbies, Prue is a great replacement and Noel is acting as though he has to remain sober in front of his parents which was amusing.

 Anyways... I thought it might be a good (if not good, at least amusing) idea of doing the technical challenges each week with the bakers. So this week, week one, was chocolate rolls. A challenge I found very exciting as I am a little obsessed with Cadbury's one. Anyways for this technique, I decided because I am so hopeless at baking, yes I will be allowed to watch the show to do it. And yes, I will get the whole recipe. Things will go wrong regardless so I thought I may allow myself small allowances.

So week one, how did it go I hear you ask.. It wasn't a complete failure! In fact, it went relatively well! Although, I had absolutely no knowledge of what I was doing was accurate but I stuck to my gut. The sponges were horrendous lopsided but strangely it worked. The only thing I would do is use less butter-cream as it felt far too sweet. Not a bad first week! Stay tuned for more.

Cheesy Chutney Muffins

The biggest issue I have with my baking is that my family often struggle to consume the vast amount of sweet treats which I wish to bake. So, to combat this issue I decided to make a savoury bake: Cheesy Chutney Muffins it was then.

This recipe came from GBBO alumni Miranda Gore Brown's Book 'Bake me a cake as fast as you can'. I got the book for my last birthday which I was delighted to find out it was personally signed, as my dad commutes on the train with her husband. Not only is she a baking hero of mine, but she also went to the same college as me in Durham University. This is all very good news, this means I am very much on track with my baking career.

Anyways, these muffins were brilliantly cheesy with homemade gooseberry chutney to sweeten them.
They were rated: 7/10 (from my family members, so may be quite generous)

But regardless, highly recommend them, very easy to make and perfect for those individuals who like something more cheesy than chocolatey....which happens to be my whole family- where I got my chocolate addiction I will not know. Anyways, I should be very grateful, nothing went abominably wrong which is always a surprise with the lack of skill/accuracy in my baking. So happy Saturday everyone.

Queen of Hearts

I am back and have a very exciting new bake for you all. Rather a late post but better late than never. After finally getting over the thought that we watched our last ever BBC Great British Bake Off , the dynastic duo of Paul and Mary to grace our screens for the last time, our village decided to have a bit of fun. In the light of spring harvest, (a while ago I know), my local very British village decided to do 'the Great British Spring Harvest Bake Off' - an original name, I know!

Anyway, not one to miss a baking opportunity, I got my apron on and my personalised baking spoon and got down to business.

I decided to get my recipe from 'Great British Bake Off- Showstoppers' recipe book - surely I would win with that!? You've got to copy the pros before getting too creative. I settled for the Rasberry Jam almond biscuits, basically a fancy and tenuous jammie dodger. 

This bake was actually easier than I thought it would be, although it was quite time-consuming it has definitely been my more successful of my attempts at baking. And quite a fun Sunday activity. 

So with my dad playing Paul Hollywood and my mother playing Mel, I set to watch them act our their parts in a mini tent inside our village hall. After acting like a cringy parent, recording and laughing over loud at their jokes, the performance of a pita bread bake off was followed by a mini indoor 'street' party in the hall. My biscuits went down a treat, however, they were upstaged by some very impressive bakes provided by the village grannies! How can I compete with them.. they have got about 50 years more experience than me. I took it all very well and decided to compensate for the lack of love for my biscuits by eating almost off of them myself. Better luck new year. However I made jam for the first time, that's my little victory!