Experimental baking

Bread, Yorkshire pudding, lemon and poppy seed cake

 Using some plain flour in bread doesn't stop it rising but using some self-raising flour in Yorkshire puddings does stop them rising - go figure.

I've successfully made sourdough bread from my own started a couple of times, but my last few attempts failed. I've no idea how old the rye flour was that I'd used but decided to get a fresh lot for my next attempt. 

Hence I had a little rye flour taking up space in the cupboard. I used it to make up the full amount of flour needed for the recipe below, but didn't have quite have enough, so had to add plain flour as well.

Sour cream bread ingredients

• 150ml sour cream*
• 250ml warm water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon fast action yeast
• 425g strong bread flour
• 75g rye flour
• 50g plain flour
• Groundnut oil for kneading

*I didn't actually measure the sour cream, but it was about half of a 300ml pot.

How to make sour cream bread

1. Mix the sour cream into the water with the salt, sugar and yeast.
2. Mix together into a soggy ball.
3. Cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm for 10 minutes (I put it in the bathroom).
4. Lightly oil a work surface and your hands.
5. Tip the dough out and knead gently for 30 seconds,
6. Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and leave for another 10 minutes.
7. Repeat the kneading, leave for another 10 minutes, then knead again.
8. Leave covered in the bowl for an hour.
9. Grease a loaf tin and line the base with silicone paper if you have it, or greaseproof paper if you don't.
10. Pat the dough out so it's about 2cm thick, then roll it up.
11. Squash the dough into the tin seam side down, pushing it so that it reaches the corners.
12. Leave to rise for 90 minutes to 2 hours.
13. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C and bake for 45 minutes.
14. Leave to cool in the tin for half an hour before tipping out and leaving to cool on a wire rack till cold.

I hate making a roast beef dinner - it's too stressful trying to get everything ready and keep it hot at the same time. I made it last Sunday - the day I also made the sour cream bread and a lemon and poppy seed cake. What was I thinking?

Since I'd used plain flour in the bread, I didn't have enough for the Yorkshire puds, so substituted about half with self-raising flour, thinking this would make them even bigger. I was wrong. 

Jamie Oliver says don't open the oven door while your Yorkshire puds are in. I fail to see how this is possible while cooking all the other bits and pieces that go with a full-on roast beef dinner such as roast parsnips and potatoes. Luckily, the roast beef sandwiches with homemade horseradish cream we had for lunch the next day were a lot better than the actual lukewam dinner. 

To assemble a roast beef sandwich

 

Roast beef sandwich

 

1. Cut 2 pieces of sour cream bread into thickinsh slices and butter liberally.
2. Spread one piece of bread with homemade creamed horseradish (below).
3. Cut thick slices of cold beef from the joint and place on top of the horseradish cream.
4. Scatter a little coarse salt over the beef. 
5. Slice 2 cornichon lengthways and lay on top of the beef.
6. Add some peppery leaves such as watercress or rocket, then top with the second slice of bread.

Ingredients for creamed horseradish 

• 65g fresh horseradish root, peeled and thinly sliced
• 100 ml creme fraiche
• 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar (or other if you don't have sherry)
• 1 teaspoon English mustard
• Pinch caster sugar

How to make creamed horseradish 

1. Mix mustard into the vinegar then add the grated horseradish.
2. Mix together then leave to stand for 10 minutes.
3. Mix in the creme fraiche and season to taste.

A ploomin disaster Sunday lunch for friends

Plum harvest 2012, preserved with WD40

A Sunday lunch menu for friends

Moules mariniere with homemade bread

Beef and oxtail casserole

No plum crumble

Here's a post which has been 99% written for about a year and a half - I have no idea why I didn't finish and publish it sooner. Coincidentally I just wrote a beef and Guinness pie post last weekend. 

Last year (2013) I had a complete plum harvest failure, and had to beg, borrow and steal apples to make chutney. 

In 2012 I had a bumper plum harvest. 

I froze a hefty amount (almost 1.4kg) to make plum crumble for when I had friends round for Sunday lunch. 

I even made the crumble topping by combining flour, butter, demerara sugar and hazelnuts in the food processor, and froze that too. I hoped the sugar and hazelnuts would give a lovely crunch to the crumble. They may well do but I've yet to try it - it ended up festering in my freezer for a few months before being chucked out.

Plums, it turns out, do not freeze well. They turn to a pulpy mush that is 95% juice. 

We ended up skipping the crumble and moving straight onto the cheese. And another fail: I forgot to serve this with my plum chutney. D'oh.

Moules mariniere ingredients

• 2 banana shallots 
• A wineglass of dry white wine
• A large knob butter
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 or 4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Splash of double cream  
• Mussels. A lot. I asked my fishmonger for enough museels for 6 as a starter, then asked him to add more. The whole massive lot came to under a tenner. Wow! In a restaurant these would probably cost the same amount per portion. We had so many we couldn't even eat them all. 

How to make moules mariniere

Scrub the mussels clean in plenty of cold running water, discarding any that don't close when tapped sharply with the back of a knife. I guess this means they are still alive, but I'd rather not think too much about that. Remove the beards from any mussels that still have them by pulling them to the corner of the mussel then yanking vigorously.

You will need a very large pan to cook the mussels in - I use a stock pot. 

1. Boil the wine rapidly for about 30 seconds to get rid of any harsh flavour, then remove from the pan. 
2. Chop a couple of banana shallots very finely.
3. Melt the butter in the pan then add the shallots and bay leaves.
4. Stir to coat in the butter then add the wine and bring to the boil.
5. Add the mussels then cover with a lid.
6. Cook for a few minutes, shaking the pan vigorously about every minute, until the mussels open. 
7. Add the cream and parsley and stir.
   Serve in a large bowl in the middle of the table, with another bowl for the discarded shells, and crusty bread.
8. Do not eat any mussels that have not opened. 

Home-made white bread, perfect with mussels

White bread

I can't tell you how I made the bread in case I am asked to remove the recipe. I chose it because it was quick to make, and since it turned out very well its a shame I can't share it with you. 

Beef and oxtail casserole ingredients

• Onions - 4 medium/large
• Carrots - 4 large
• Swede - 1 small
• Celery - 2 sticks
• Guniness - 2 bottles
• Thyme - about 10 sprigs
• Flour - about 3 tablespoons
• Stewing steak - about 1.5kg, cut into chunks
• Oxtail  - 8 pieces
• Parsley, to serve*

*Personaly, I hate parsley. But some recipes, such as this one,  do taste better with a little sprinkling of the chopped herb. And for some recipes, such as moules mariniere (above), it is absolutely integral. Hence I had some to add to the casserole. 

Don't be tempted to put tinned tomatoes or tomato puree in this - I think it distracts from the flavour of the beef, whereas the Guinness enhances it. 

How to make beef and oxtail in Guinness

1. Heat the oven to the Magic Cooking Number, 190 degrees C fan. 
2. Heat a little rapeseed oil in a large casserole pan.
3. Add the onions and fry gently for about 10 minutes, till they become translucent and very soft.  If you don't overdo it, this will give the onions a lovely caramelised taste. If you overdo  it will taste burnt. 
4. Add the carrots, celery and swede.
5. Fry for about 5 minutes, till the vegetables become slightly softened.
6. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to coat.
7. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, stirring pretty much constantly.
8. Turn up the heat and add the pieces of steak. 
9. Brown the steak then add the oxtail pieces and brown too.
10. Add the Guinness and bring to the boil.
11. Cover with a lid and put in the oven for 2 hours.

 
I know this is going to cause controversy, but I served Yorkshire puddings with this casserole. Normally, my Yorkies rise well and are huge; for some reason this time they were a little flat. So another fail.