Month: December 2022

This is a dough that can be used for Foccaia, Bloomer or small bread rolls.

This recipe makes:

• 1 foccacia of 880g (25cmx15cm aprox)
• 1 bloomer
• 4x bread rolls of 80g each

Ingredients:

• 1kg strong flour
• 40g course semolina
• 15g dry yest (30g fresh yeast)
• 20g sea salt
• 100ml olive oil
• 640ml water (warm)
• 1 egg (for eggwash)
• 4 garlic cloves chopped
• Rosemary
• Sesame seeds

Main process for dough:

• Mix flour, semolina, yest.
• Add crushed sea salt and mix
• Make a hole in the middle of the flours and add water and oil. Mix until all combined
• Knead by hand. Take the dough in the air, and slap it on the work surface. Dont add any flour in the work surface. At the beginning will be sticky but once gluten starts forming will be more manageable. Do this for 15 min aprox. Until the dough is smooth.
• Prove until double in size. If using proving machine: 3% water, 35-40C temp.

Foccacia:

• Prepare a tray of aprox 25x15cm. Oil it, add baking paper of similar size, cutting a diagonal in the corners so it fits better.
• Take a portion of 880g from the main dough.
• Spread it on the tray so fills it.
• Prove for a second time until double in size.
• Preheat oven at 200C
• After proving, oil your fingertips and make holes on the dough
• Spread the chopped garlic as evenly as possible. Add a bit of oil
• Cut some rosemary, dip it on olive oil so it doesnt burn in the oven. Add it to the foccacia in the holes made earlier.
• Bake until golder brown (20-25m)
• Take out of the oven, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Let it cool!

Bread rolls:

• From the main dough, after first proving. Take 4 pieces of 80g each.
• Make a ball with each piece, the surface should be smooth. Dont use flour in your work surface.
• Put the ball in a tray covered with a bit of semolina.
• Prove until double in size
• Eggs wash each roll. And add sesame seeds
• Bake in the preheat oven at 200C for 15m aprox or until golden brown.

Bloomer:

• From the leftover dough after the first proving, divide it in 3 parts.
• Roll them horizontally.
• Like babka, make a braid like this video.
• Tap both ends.
• Prove second time until double in size.
• Dust with a bit of flour and bake for 25m or golden brown at 200C in a preheat oven.

This is the result!

To be honest, I didnt like much the bloomer and breadrolls. My weekly homemade sourdough is far much better (and still got room for improvement)

And for the foccacia, as well, I prefer my sourdough version.

Ingredients for Swiss Roll:

• 3 free range eggs
• 75g caster sugar
• 75g plain flour

Filling:

• 18 strawberries: chopped.
• 350ml cream
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp icing sugar.

Stock syrup:

• 50% water
• 50% sugar
• optional: start anise, lemon zest, etc.
• Process: In a sauce pan, mix water and sugar, then heat up until boiling, then simmer.

Straberry dressing:

• 380g straberries (can be frozen)
• 150g icing sugar
• 1 lemon juice

Overall Process:

• Preheat oven at 175C
• In a tray of aprox 40cm x 25cm, cut a piece of baking paper of the same size.
• Then cut a diagonal in each corner of the paper with scissors

• Butter the tray, put the paper, then trimmer above 1cm on the borders.
• Butter the paper again and pour some flour and smack the tray to produce an anti-stick layer.
• Using a mixing-machine (something I dont have at home….) put the sugar and eggs. Mix until 4 times in size!! They need to become a white and dense cream.
• Sieve the flour in a bowl. Twice if possible.
• Once the egg mix is ready, fold the flour slowly like 1/3 at each time, you want to keep the air bubbles! Use a spatula.
• Pour the mix on the tray. Bake for 6 minutes aprox at 175C. It should spring the surface when you poke it with a finger.
• Let it cool down for a bit.
• Spread a kitchen towel on your work surface and dust it with plenty of sugar. Dont use baking paper or similar!
• Put the sponge on the towel and remove the paper carefully.
• Cut the edges with a serrated knife.
• This is the most difficult step, you need to roll the sponge using the towel to keep it tight but without breaking the sponge! Make a line on the bottom of the sponge to help you roll it up

• once the sponge is rolled, be sure it is tight the kitchen towel. Let it rest.
• Prepare your stock syrup.
• Chop the straberries.
• Prepare the cream. Whisk by hand in a bowl the cream, sugar and vanilla. Until solid but not peaks.
• Unroll the sponge, and brush some stock syrup on it.
• Add chopped straberries.
• Spread the cream on top of the strawberries.
• Roll again the sponge, be careful!!! Using the towel.
• With a clean knife, cut both ends and then start cutting pieces (cleaning each time the knife)

• Optionally, you can prepare a strawberry syrup. In a blender put the straberries, icing sugar and lemon juice.
• Decoration. With the leftover cream and a piping bag, you can decorate each slice with a cream dollop and some pieces of strawberry. Using the strawberry syrup, and a sign.

To be honest the sponge was very nice and not super sweet. The cream doesnt have much sugar and the strawberry give it a fresh bite.

This is a typical British cake. This is for a cicle tin of around 18cm diameter and at least 5cm high.

Ingredients:

• 110g sunflower oil
• 170g dark brown sugar
• 2 small eggs beaten
• 170g plain flour
• 5g baking powder
• 2g cinnamon
• 2 medium carrots grated
• 42g raisins
• 42 chopped walnuts
• pinch of salt
• a bit of melted butter
• optional: 1 bottle cap of (dark) rum.

Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 170C
• Using the circle tin, use to cut a cicle with baking paper to cover the bottom of the tin.
• Butter the bottom and side of the tin. Put the paper and butter a bit again.
• Dust a bit of flour on the bottom of the tin. Smack it a bit to produce an anti-stick layer.
• Mix oil and sugar in a bowl. Then add the beaten eggs.
• In another bowl, mix carrots, raisins and rum (optional).
• In another bowl, sift (twice!) the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
• And the flour to the wet mix. Whisk until smooth.
• Add carrot mix, mix properly.
• Add walnuts, fold it!
• Pour the mix into the tin and take to the oven.
• Bake for 1h or so. Use a tooth stick to check the cake is baked. It should come out clean.
• Let is cool down in a racket.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

• 150g philadelpia cream cheese (be sure it is consistent! – full fat!)
• 25g icing sugar sifted
• 12g softed butter
• 1/4 tsp of lemon juice
• A couple of drops of vanilla paste.

Process

• Mix cheese and sugar. Whisking
• Add butter. Keep whisking
• Add vanilla
• Add lemon juice.
• It should be a consistent mix. You dont the frosting to melt down once spread on your cake.

Finishing Cake:

• Remove the cake from the tin. It should be cool down enough.
• In a plate, leave the flat part on top so it is easier to put the cream.
• With a palette, create a flat surface with the cream. You can use a pipping bag and a rotating dish to help you with the process.
• Make eight dollops for decoration.

Optional: Marzipan Carrots

Ingredients:

• 50g of marzipan (store bought)
• Orange, blue and yellow colorants.

Process:

• In a small container, mix a couple of drops of yellow and blue colorant to make a green color.
• Take 30g of marzipan and put a couple of drops of orange. Use latex gloves! Mix both until you have a orange ball.
• Do the same with a 15g aprox marzipan portion and green.
• To create small carrots, take a small ball of orange, with the edge of you palm, try to create the body of the carrot.
• With the bland edge of knife make circle of the carrot body.
• With a tooth stick make a hole in the top to add later the green tail.
• Take a tiny ball of green marzipan. Again with the edge of your palms make a small tail, cut 3/4 with the knife to simulate the carrot leaves. With the tooth stick help to introduce the tip into the carrot.
• Repeat with the rest.
• Once you have eight. Put one in each cream dollop from the cake.