Bakes by Wendy: September 2013

Sunday 29 September 2013

Oaty Soda Bread

The oats in this bread give it a lovely texture! This recipe is so quick and easy - give it a go and enjoy :)

Preheat the oven to 180°C and have an 8 inch round tin to hand to transfer the dough into :)

Ingredients

400g plain flour

50g oats

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

300ml buttermilk

6 tbsp cool, boiled water

sift the flour, bicarb and salt into a bowl, add the oats.

using a dough hook attachment, on a slow speed, pour in the buttermilk and water to form a very soft dough.

transfer the mixture to a tin and bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

remove from the tray and leave to cool on a wire rack.

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Wednesday 25 September 2013

Gingernuts

These biscuits were so good. Lovely and crisp on the outside....soft and chewy in the middle. Yum Yum! They were so simple to make and perfect with a cup of tea.

I'm not one for measuring out exactly '30' biscuits - I just make enough dough balls to use up the mixture.

Preheat the oven to 160°C and lightly grease two baking sheets with butter (I usually use Sunflower Oil Spray).

Ingredients

125g butter

75g golden syrup

350g self-raising flour

pinch of salt

200g caster sugar

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 lemon, rind grated

in a pot, melt the butter and golden syrup, set aside and leave to cool.

sift the flour, salt, sugar, ginger and bicarb into a bowl.

once cooled slightly, pour the butter and golden syrup over the dry ingredients.

add the egg and grated lemon rind and mix to combine the dough.

using your hands, shape the dough into even balls and place on the baking sheets.

press each ball down with your fingers and bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes.

once baked, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Sunday 22 September 2013

Banana Bread

I previously made banana bread and it was a disaster..it looked good on the outside but the inside was just a whole load of goo. I should have taken a picture ha-ha, WHAT A MESS.

Anyway that recipe involved orange juice and a lot of missing ingredients. This time, I decided to do it right as we had a load of bananas that were going to go to waste. I quadrupled the recipe as you can probably guess from the photos but the recipe below is for one batch :)

Preheat the oven to 160°C and line 2 x 1 lb loaf tins.

Ingredients

100g softened butter

175g caster sugar

2 eggs

2 medium bananas (or 3 small), mashed

225g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp milk

25g walnuts, chopped

add the butter, sugar, eggs, bananas, flour, baking powder and milk to a bowl - mix to combine.

fold in the chopped walnuts and spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tins.

bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour, until well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then cool fully on a wire rack.

PS - it was even more delicious toasted!

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Wednesday 18 September 2013

Baking Through The Years...

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Pear and Almond Tart - Coconut Cake - Sticky Toffee Pudding - White Chocolate Cake

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Chocolate Cake 1 - Chocolate cake 2 - Chocolate Cake 3 - Coconut Bars

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Chocolate Cheesecake Buns - Date & Walnut Teabread - Beetroot Chocolate Cake - Lemon Cake

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Chocolate Torte - Sweet & Salty Chocolate Cake - White Chocolate & Coffee Cake - Red Velvet Cake

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Orange & Pistachio Cake - Chocolate Fudge Cake - Kevins Red Velvet Cake - Dark Chocolate Cake

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Lemon Curd Cake - Marbled Chocolate Cake - Black Forest Gateaux - Lemon & Lime Cake

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Lemon Tart - Coffee Cake - Tiramisu Cake - Graduation Cake 2013

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I bet you can't guess the common theme throughout these photos? Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate... Ha-Ha...

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Sunday 15 September 2013

Date and Walnut Teabread

"It doesn't matter what day it is, Father. There's always time for a nice cup of tea"
- Mrs Doyle, Father Ted.

Preheat the oven 180°C and line a 1-lb loaf tin with greasproof paper. The little cake liners I used are very handy and you can pick them up in the Homestore or Woodies :)

Ingredients

100g dates, chopped
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ lemon, rind
100ml hot tea
40g butter
70g light muscovado sugar
1 egg
125g self-raising flour
25g walnuts, chopped

add the dates, bicarb and lemon to a bowl and cover with the hot tea - leave it to soak while you prepare the cake.

cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, beat in the egg and then the hot tea mix.

fold in the flour and walnuts with a large metal spoon.

spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, top with the walnut halves and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

cool the cake for 10 minutes before removing it from the tin, finish cooling on a wire rack.

PS - I usually sift brown or muscovado sugar as it can be quite lumpy making it difficult to cream with the butter!

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Thursday 12 September 2013

Hummus #1 Chilli

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas

2 small chillies
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp tahini paste
3 tbsp water
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

in a bowl, stir together the lemon juice, tahini paste, water, salt and cayenne pepper.

to a food processor, add the chickpeas and chilli and blitz.

pour the liquid into the food processor and blend to combine.

finally, transfer to a bowl and stir in the olive oil - enjoy :)

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Wednesday 11 September 2013

French Baguette

When you have finished preparing the bread, preheat the oven with a tin of water at the bottom of the oven - this stops the bread drying out as its baking!

This may not have looked like a Cuisine de France roll but it tasted good, so that's all that matters, right?

Preheat the oven to 230°C and brush a baking sheet with oil. I used a stand mixer and dough hook to make this bread.

Ingredients

450g strong white flour

1½ tsp salt

1½ tsp yeast

325ml lukewarm water

Stage 1

sift the flour and salt into a bowl and then stir in the yeast.

pour in the lukewarm water and mix until it comes together.

scrape down the sides of the bowl and add a dusting of flour - mix on a low speed for 10 minutes.

brush a bowl with oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Stage 2

turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 1-2 minutes.

cut the dough in half and shape each piece into a ball.

shape each ball into a rectangle shape (approx - 7.5 x 20 cm).

fold one-third of the dough down, then fold the remaining third of the dough (see picture), repeat for the second ball of dough.

place them in a tin, cover with cling film and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

repeat the folding process twice over, leaving the dough to rest for 10 minutes each time.

Stage 3

lightly flour and pleat a tea towel, gently roll and stretch each piece of dough until its 30 cm long and an even thickness.

support each loaf against the pleats of the tea towel, cover with a damp towel and leave to rise for 40 minutes.

gently roll the loaves onto the prepared baking sheet and slash the top several times with a knife.

bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

cool on a wire rack.

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Monday 9 September 2013

Fruit and Nut Shortbread

Use any combination of fruit and nuts that you fancy. I particularly like macadamia nuts and cranberries!

Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Ingredients

225g plain flour

75g caster sugar

150g butter

Salt, pinch

50g fruit

50g nuts

1 orange, zest

in a food processor, blitz the flour, sugar, butter and salt to form a smooth dough.

transfer to a bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients.

turn out the mixture onto a floured surface and press flat to approximately 1cm in height.

use a 7cm cookie cutter to make the biscuits and transfer them to the tray.

bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Saturday 7 September 2013

Hamburger Buns

It may say hamburger buns...but they were more like soft rolls! They were just delicious. Perfect for toasting or as bread for a sandwich :)

Preheat the oven to 200°C and brush a baking sheet with oil.

Ingredients

450g strong white flour

1½ tsp salt

2 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp easy-blend dried yeast

150ml lukewarm water

150ml lukewarm milk

1-3 tbsp sesame seeds

sift the flour and salt into a bowl, stir in the sugar and finally the yeast.

pour in the lukewarm water and milk, mix the dough on a low speed until it comes together - then lightly dust the dough with flour.

further knead the dough on a low speed for 10 minutes.

brush a bowl with oil, add the dough, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for 1 hour (or until its doubled in volume)

turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knock it back with your fist.

divide the dough into 8 pieces, shape them into rounds and place them on the prepared baking sheets.

cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for 30 minutes.

brush the top of each bun with oil and sprinkle over the sesame seeds.

bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes and once baked, cool on a wire rack.

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

On the 2nd of September I finally graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelors Degree in Human Nutrition - *Insert Happy Dance*.

With this in mind, I was asked to make the class a graduation cake. My first choice was 'my' sweet and salty chocolate cake. You can follow the recipe here. If you read that post, you will know that I froze half of the icing for future use. Big fail, it split and turned to goo. So I replaced that icing with the chocolate ganache below and it worked!

Anyway, on to this post... gluten free cupcakes! Unfortunately the entire cake is not gluten free but I did recreate the cake into a cupcake for a couple of the girls in my class. They worked out way better than I expected and I'm excited to try out more gluten free recipes!

For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 12 hole bun tin with paper cases.

Graduation Cake

Waiting for Salted Caramel..

Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients

50g butter

115g soft light brown sugar

2 eggs

115g gluten free flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

25g cocoa powder

125ml soured cream

add the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, bicarb and cocoa powder to a large bowl and whisk until smooth.

fold in the soured cream and spoon the mixture into the cases.

bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.

leave them to completely on a wire rack before icing them.

Chocolate Icing

225g butter

285g plain chocolate

2 tbsp golden syrup

240ml double cream

melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a glass bowl over a pot of shimmering water.

once melted, add the cream and mix to combine.

remove from the heat and allow to cool. it takes about 20-30 minutes for the icing to set and thicken.

Decorate

to decorate the cake - follow the steps as per the sweet and salty chocolate cake!

for the cupcakes - remove a small middle from each cupcake (I use an apple corer) and spoon in some salted caramel.

finally, top with the chocolate icing and enjoy :)

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Ciabatta Bread

Biga is a type of pre-ferment used in Italian baking. I'm pretty sure it helped increase the number of 'holes' in the bread, after that I don't quite know.

Wikipedia says that it adds to the 'nutty' flavour of the bread! You're meant to let the biga rise to a point before it collapses... as you can see I let the dough collapse haha. :)

The actual ciabatta dough is very wet prior to the first rise - do not add more flour, its meant to look like that, promise.

Preheat the oven 220°C and dust three baking sheets with flour.

Biga Starter

350g strong white bread flour

1¼ tsp easy-blend dried yeast

200ml lukewarm water

sift the flour into a bowl, stir in the yeast and pour in the water.

mix on a low speed for 5 minutes and shape the dough into a ball.

cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise for 12 hours.

Ingredients

400ml lukewarm water

4 tbsp lukewarm semi-skimmed milk

500ml strong white bread flour

7g easy-blend dried yeast

2 tsp salt

3 tbsp olive oil

once the biga is ready, gradually mix the water and milk into the biga (I used the dough hook on a slow speed).

then, slowly add the flour and yeast until its all incorporated.

finally, mix in the salt and oil.

cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise for 2 hours or until the dough has double in volume.

using a spatula, divide the dough onto the baking sheets taking care not to knock the air out.

flour your hands and gently pull and shape the dough into rectangular loaves.

dust the loaves with flour and leave to rise for a further 30 minutes.

bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

every single step was worth it..mmmm.

PS - Wikipedia knows best...

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Thursday 5 September 2013

Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread

Mmmm who doesn't love Nutella and toast! So I attempted to make some myself. I liked this, Kevin loved it but I thought it was a little sweet.

Next time I'll try it out with some cocoa powder and extra hazelnuts :)

Ingredients

200g hazelnuts

150g white chocolate

150g milk chocolate

397g condensed milk

4 tbsp sunflower oil

Salt

6 tbsp hot water

toast the hazelnuts in the oven at 180°C for 10 minutes, once cooled slightly remove the skins from the hazelnuts and whizz in a food processor.

divide the hazelnuts, condensed milk, sunflower oil and water into two pots.

add the white and milk chocolate into each pot and add a pinch of salt.

melt the chocolate and stir until everything is well combined.

transfer each spread into 200ml, sterilized jars.

♥ ♥

Wendy

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Brioche Bread

If you do decide to bake this bread, you will need to do it over two days as it rises overnight. This was my first attempt at brioche and I would definitely consider it successful - thanks Mr Hollywood!

Preheat the oven to 190^°C and grease two loaf tins. For this recipe I used a stand mixer and a dough hook :)

Ingredients

500g strong flour

7g salt
50g caster sugar

10g instant yeast

140ml full-fat milk

5 eggs

250g butter, cubed

add the flour, salt and sugar to the mixer and whizz for a minute, then add the yeast and repeat.

next, add the milk and eggs - mix on a low speed for 2 minutes.

increase to a medium speed for 6-8 minutes until the dough is soft and glossy.

finally, add the butter and mix on a medium speed for 4-5 minutes.

tip the mixture into a plastic bowl, cover with cling film and chill overnight.

the dough will be very wet and it will take ages to double in size but it will!

when ready, tip onto a lightly floured surface and knock out the air.

divide the mixture between the two tins and cover them with a plastic bag - let the dough rise for a further 2-3 hours.

once the dough has doubled in size again, bake in a preheated oven for 20-30 minutes.

Pages

Sunday 29 September 2013

Ingredients

Wednesday 25 September 2013

Ingredients

Sunday 22 September 2013

Ingredients

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Sunday 15 September 2013

Ingredients

Thursday 12 September 2013

Ingredients

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Ingredients

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Monday 9 September 2013

Ingredients

Saturday 7 September 2013

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients

Chocolate Icing

Decorate

Biga Starter

Ingredients

Thursday 5 September 2013

Ingredients

Ingredients