PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

The story of Parker House Rolls is part legend and part truth. Apparently, they date back to the 1800's and originated at Parker House Hotel in Boston. There are a variety of stories surrounding them and you can find out what The Food Timeline have to say about these wonderful rolls by clicking here.

The rolls are a butter and egg enriched dough, served warm they are very moreish.

The dough can be made in a bread machine (by referring to your manufacturers instructions), in the food mixer fitted with a dough hook or if you feel like a good workout, made by hand.

The book this recipe came from is for either making bread by either hand or bread machine. The fundamentals of breadmaking are covered, there is a photographic gallery showing some of the world's most mouthwatering breads, a guide to ingredients and equipment, also techniques. There are recipes from basic breads to sourdoughs, flavoured breads to festive breads, in fact something for everyone.

Bread by Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno
Page: 118
ISBN No. 1-4053-0511-8


You will need:
2½ tsp dried yeast, 250ml milk, 60g melted unsalted butter, 30g melted butter to glaze, 2 tbsp granulated sugar, 2 beaten eggs, 560g strong white flour, 2tsp salt

1. Sprinkle the yeast into 100ml tepid milk in a bowl. Leave for 5 minutes; stir to dissolve. Warm the remaining milk in a saucepan with the butter and sugar. Stir continuously, until the butter has melted. Cool until tepid, then beat in the eggs until evenly distributed.
2. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeasted milk and the butter mixture. Mix in the flour to form a soft, sticky dough.
3.Turn the dough out on to a floured work surface. Knead until smooth, shiny, and elastic, about 10 minutes. Knead in extra flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the dough is too sticky. Don't add too much flour, the dough should be soft not dry.
4. Put the dough in a buttered bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1½ hours.
5. Knock back, then leave to rest for 10 minutes. Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll out each to form a 20cm x 40cm rectangle. Cut each rectangle lengthways into four strips, each 10cm long. Brush half of each rectangle with melted butter, then fold in half, leaving a 1cm flap.
6. Place the rolls on a buttered baking sheet so that each roll overlaps slightly with the one next to it; cover with a tea towel. prove until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
7. Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter. Bake in a preheated oven 220°C for 15-20 minutes until golden and hollow sounding when tapped underneath. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

SUNBURST ROLLS

These may not be 'trendy' but I love pulling this bread apart to reveal the fluffiness! Also, I find the poppy seeds and sesame seeds irresistible.......


The dough was made in my Panasonic bread maker and then each piece of dough shaped into a ball. When I attended college, I was taught by a baker how to make perfect dough balls. Firstly, remove your watch and rings, these harbour bacteria! Make sure that your hands are free of any perfume or hand lotion otherwise this will transfer onto the dough. Take the piece of dough and place under the palm of your hand, then grasp the dough ball lightly with spread out fingers and make round movements on the work surface. You should now have a dough ball without any creases underneath!

Below the recipe are a couple of photographs of bread baked in the bread maker. Speedy Sesame Bread and Light Seeded Wholemeal Bread, these recipes came from Bread Machine Easy, also from Sara Lewis.



Another useful book for baking bread by hand or using the bread machine is Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno.

I came across this very interesting blog which concentrates on bread, called The Knead for Bread, so why not hop over to this website for some wonderful photography and bread recipes.

THE BREAD BOOK - Sara Lewis

ISBN 0600607909 - Page 97

You will need: 475g strong white flour (I always use Waitrose Canadian Strong Flour), 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon caster sugar, 1¼ teaspoons fast-action dried yeast, 275ml water

For the glaze and topping:
1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, 2 teaspoons poppy seeds

1. Pop the dough ingredients into the bread pan in the order given for your make of bread maker.
2. Set for the dough option. Press start.
3. At the end of the programme, tip the dough on to a lightly floured surface, knead well and then cut into 16 equal pieces and shape each one into a ball. Arrange the dough balls in 2 rings inside a well buttered 25cm spring form tin. Put 10 rolls in the outer ring, 5 in the second ring and the last remaining roll in the centre.
4.Cover loosely with oiled clingfilm and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes until the rolls are well risen and touching.
5. Remove the clingfilm, brush with the egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon of water and sprinkle the outer ring and central roll with sesame seeds and the second ring with poppy seeds.
6. Bake in a preheated oven 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 - I cooked mine on Fan 180°C - for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden and the bread sounds hollow when tapped with the fingertips. Check after 15 minutes and cover with foil if over browning.
7. Loosen the edges of the rolls with a palette knife and then turn them out on to a wire rack or large plate, then turn again onto a wire rack so that the tops of the rolls are uppermost. Leave to cool completely.

KIWI AND PASSION FRUIT MINI PAVLOVAS

The mini pavlovas are easy to make and store well in an airtight tin for several days. When it comes to serving they are basically an assembly job and people will think you've spent hours making them.
When it came to buying the fruit, passion fruit suddenly seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth! Such is my luck sometimes.
Anyway, after lots of frustration I managed to hunt a couple down.
I served the pavlovas with Green & Blacks Mint Leaves, the leaves were put on purely for decorative purposes, but much to my surprise, this unexpected combination of flavours worked really well.
These were supposed to be bite sized, but somehow when I made them, they were three bites size.


CANAPES - Eric Treuille & Victoria Blashford-Snell
ISBN 14053051344 - Page 56

Makes: 20

To Make the Pavlovas:

Preheat the Oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.

2 egg whites at room temperature, 125g caster sugar, ½ tsp vanilla essence

1. Put the egg whites in a large, clean bowl and whisk until the meringue holds soft peaks.
2. Add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking well after each addition. Continue whisking until the whites are stiff and glossy.
3. Fold in the vanilla essence with a rubber spatula.
4. Use the tip of two teaspoons to place small walnut-sized spoonfuls of meringue 2.5cm apart, on to baking parchment lined baking sheets.
5. Make an indent in the centre of each mini meringue with the back of one teaspoon.
6. Bake for 5 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 120°C/250°F/Gas 1/2. Continue baking until firm to the touch, 20 minutes.
7. I left them to cool in the oven overnight before removing them from the baking sheet and storing in an airtight tin.

To Assemble:

75ml whipping cream, 1 tablespoon caster sugar, 1 kiwi, 2 halved passion fruit, 20 raspberries, 2 teaspoons icing sugar for dusting.

1. Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of caster sugar.
2. Cut the peeled kiwi in half and cut each half into 5 slices. Cut each slice in half.
3. Scoop out pulp from passion fruit halves.
4. Top each pavlova with 1 teaspoon cream.
5. Arrange a half kiwi slice and a raspberry on top.
6. Spoon over passion fruit and dust with icing sugar.