The Technical Challenge: Ciabatta by Paul Hollywood - Recipe

Why didn't I try this easy recipe before?  My inspiration came from seeing Paul Hollywood on TV demonstrating this technical challenge from The Great British Bake Off.  He made it look easy enough, but with his skills, he makes everything look easy.

This is one occasion when you need a mixer with a dough hook, the mixture is so sticky I'd lose patience if I tried to make it by hand. If you don't have a mixer with a dough hook, but haven't used your bread machine for ages, let the dough setting do all the hard work for you.

I'm not in possession of a square plastic container to rise the dough, mine is deep and oblong, it was still okay and sometimes you just have to compromise.  After all, Paul Hollywood isn't about to knock on my front door any time soon to make sure I use a square container.

The dough is really easy to work with and I was more than a bit chuffed with my baked loaves of ciabatta, they don't have to look bakery perfect, but hubby thought I'd bought them!

Fresh from the oven

The bread doesn't take long to make, the kitchen is filled with the heady aroma of bread, it freezes well, can be warmed briefly in the microwave (don't tell Paul), and you can find the recipe on the BBC Food website.

I hope you too will have a go at this challenge!

Back soon with some fab product reviews........including making soup to go with my bread.....

Apricot Couronne - The Great British Bake Off

Apricot Couronne

Last weekend, before the 'Sweet Dough Week' was on television,  I had a go at making the Apricot Couronne by Paul Hollywood.

At least I had the full instructions in front of me, unlike the contestants who have to work through a few scant notes and are seriously under pressure.

I gave myself three hours to make the bread and it was ample time to make, prove, bake and decorate. When I placed my buttery filling of apricots, raisins and walnuts onto the dough and rolled it up like a swiss roll the dough seemed to stretch and have a mind all of it's own. Another observation, I didn't allow a large enough centre, although in the photograph it looks as though there isn't a gap in the centre, I'm pleased to say that there is! The icing was a little runny, it's drizzled over the couronne whilst it's warm and this makes the icing lovely and crunchy.

The couronne is fairly easy to make and would be a fabulous bake for the Christmas season.  It's rich, sticky, tender and delicious.  The bread kept happily for a couple of days under clingwrap.

To sum up, it took three hours to make, we ate it three times a day (well there were only two of us to get through it) and it took us three days to polish it all off!  Although I say it myself, I was quite pleased with my first attempt at making this recipe......

The recipe can be found on the BBC Food website.

Fresh Berry Scones - Great British Bake Off Everyday

The crunchy demerara topping on the lid is the best part of the scones
 and I eat the lid first!

I have a passion for scones but so much the better if berries are incorporated into them. Blueberry scones are my favourite but here we have both blueberries and raspberries.  The beauty about these scones is they bypass the usual jam then cream or cream and then jam debate that goes on and on...... My scone recipe is from The Great British Bake Off Everyday cookery book.

All they need is a dollop of cream

The book is full to the brim with very tempting cakes, bread and bakes - I was spoilt for choice. I've been baking quite a lot recently, in fact more than I intended to. I'm still getting to know my new oven and it's a good excuse to bake, bake, bake.

My kitchen posting has had to be delayed - the work seems to just go on and on and on. Everything seems to take ages, electricians coming and going, the fitter still doing small bits and pieces and then there is the glass man who has ordered the glass but this takes a few weeks to be made and then he has to come and fit.  Guess what, after the glass has been fitted the electricians have to come back to fit new socket covers and then the installer has to come back to do a few more bits and pieces........Shoo workmen, shoo........

There are still fresh berries on the shelves and using frozen for the scones unfortunately won't work because the frozen fruit will release too much liquid whilst the scones are baking.

I had some buttermilk left over from the Blackberry Buttermilk Sponge and used it to make the scones. If you can't locate any buttermilk here is a way of making your own: take 250ml milk (not semi), pour onto 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and leave to stand at room temperature for approximately 10 minutes.  If you have any blackberries left over from making the sponge I think I would be tempted to use these in the scones.  The scones freeze perfectly too, defrost and warm on the defrost setting of the microwave to refresh.

The Great British Bake Off is must watch TV and I for one find myself sitting in front of the TV every week watching, hubby knows he can't get any sense out of me whilst it's on, and now he watches too, eating one of my warm comforting fresh berry scones of course!

Blackberry Buttermilk Sponge

The sponge has a lovely crunchy demerara sugar topping

This easy to make blackberry buttermilk sponge has a lovely tender crumb and if you can get hedgerow blackberries the cake will taste even better. My blackberries came from the supermarket, they were absolutely fine (but make sure they aren't dessert blackberries) or raspberries would be good to use too. The sponge is best served warm and can be reheated gently in the microwave.

I know sometimes it's not convenient to buy buttermilk and a buttermilk substitute can be made by taking 250ml milk (not semi-skimmed) and pouring onto 1 tablespoon of either white wine vinegar or lemon juice and leave to stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Recipe is from The Great British Bake Off Everyday cookbook and they recommend serving the sponge with Hot Berry Sauce (recipe in the book). The cake is quite sweet and I think the berry sauce would counteract the sweetness. I served my cake with a dollop of cream.