Raspberry jam

Who does not love raspberry jam?  When I grew up, we would have to pick the raspberries, here I save myself that trouble and head to the frozen section at the shop.  Some shops or food suppliers will have them at a better price than the main supermarkets.

Jam traditionally call for 1/2 fruit  to 1/2 sugar weight in their composition. I prefer mine not so sweet.  Also note that this recipe does not use any jam settler, if you want to use those, I would suggest the “sugar jam” which is sugar and settler all in one.  In that case do not use lemon juice, apparently it cancel the effect of the settler.

Did you notice my jam label? I have now been using it for 7-8 years!

Ingredients:
  • 1 kg frozen berries
  • 700 g of white sugar
  • the juice of 2 lemons
Material:
  • Jam jars previously cleaned, then sterilised in boiling water (I do that while my jam is cooking) and let to cool down face down on a clean towel
  • a large ended funnel and a ladle
  • A large cooking pot
Method:
  1. Put the raspberries, lemon juice and sugar in the cooking pot on the stove. Stir roughly.  I like using a large wooden spoon to do that.
  2. When the fruits are boiling reduce a bit.  In the meanwhile place a small plate in the freezer and prepare your jars.
  3. The jam is ready to put in pots when a few drops of jam placed on your cold plate (yep, the one you put in the freezer) and allowed to cool down for up to a minute does not run when held at an angle.
  4. Using the ladle and the large ended funnel fill the pots one by one quite close to the top  and immediately put on the lids.  The jam will settle, it may take overnight.
  5. When the pots are cold, clean them if there is a bit of jam on the outside and label them.

Tip: be very careful not to burn yourself with the jam, hot jam burns and it is painful!

Tip: runny jam? Cook it again!

 

 

Red onion pissalardiere

This red onion pissalardiere is a variation from the traditional pissalardiere.  The pissalardiere is a classic dish from southern France. The pissalardiere is something between a pizza and an onion tart.  It is normally made with brown onion, this recipe is a variation and uses red onions.

Ingredients
  • 2 to 3 large red onions
  • 1 capsicum
  • 1 puff pastry or pate brisee
  • Anchovies
  • Black olives
Method
  1. Pre-heat oven at 180°C
  2. Onions:   chopped the onions finely then slowly cooked them and reduced them.  Seasoned and  add a splash of balsamic vinegar.
  3. Capsicum: cut in long stripes and let to reduce very slowly in a frypan with a lid and 1/3 cup of water and a little salt until cooked.  Add a bit of water if necessary.

    Make sure you keep a watch on the above, they could burn easily, stir from time to time.

  4. Prepare your puff pastry in the tart tin.
  5. Place the onions at the bottom, then the capsicum.  You can add a bit of nutmeg at this stage.  Add a few anchovies.  I added grated Grana Panado (this is what I had in the fridge) and a few black olives.
  6. Bake on 180°C (160°C if fan forced) until the pastry is cooked.

C is for Cookies…Choc Chip Cookies

C is for Cookies….The best Choc Chip Cookies

“C is for Cookies, that’s good enough for me
Oh, cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C”
I use these choc chip cookies for many occasions: lunch boxes, presents, travels, picnics, playdates, …

What I like with this recipe is that you can make them very small, bite size like or maxi over indulging size! This recipe describes medium (normal) size biscuits.

Ingredients

200 g of butter, melted
150 g of white sugar
200 g of brown sugar
2 eggs
450 g of flour
1 teaspoon of raising powder (1 sachet if using that version)
300 g of good cooking chocolate chopped with a knife (or use packets of chocolate chips from the shop)

Method
  1. Heat the oven up on 180°C
  2. Mix together the eggs, white sugar, brown sugar
  3. Add the butter and mix well
  4. Add together the flour, raising powder and chocolate chips.  Mix by hand.
  5. Cover 2 baking sheets with baking paper, with a spoon (or with your hands) place on the baking sheet little mounds the size of an apricot,push down very slightly.  Make sure the mounds are not to close to each other (at least leaving space of the size of one mound between two mounds) as they will spread during baking.
  6. Bake until the colour starts to change slightly golden brown. Do not overbake.
  7. Slide the baking paper with cookies on it on the cooling rack. Leave to cool for a few minutes before moving them.
  8. You should expect to need two bakes if using two baking trays at the same time.

 

 

Choc chip c

Sourdough Bread

Your own sourdough bread!

This page will provide you a step to step approach to making sourdough bread.   If you have a stand mixer, feel free to use it.  The below method explain both the technique with and without stand mixer. And if you do not have a stand mixer, all you need is just a bit more time up your sleeve.

I am about to forget to say that sourdough bread making is very forgiving, about to go to the beach? Place the covered bowl into the fridge, you will take it back where you left it when you come home.

 
Overview of the different steps

Step NoStepNo hook machineWith hook machine
1Starter feed and growthThe day beforeSame
2Save your starter for next timeSave your starter, prepare for storage.Same
3Ingredients mixing & autolyseAll at once, making sure the salt is NOT put in direct contact with yeast. Water, starter and flour mixed, salt added after hydrolyse.
Seeds/berries can be added at this stage.Seeds/berries (if used) added with salt
1h rest
4Dough developmentPunch dough + 1h rise/rest x 2Mix up to 10 min or until dough does not stick to bowl and can do the window stretch.
5RisingThe dough would have started to rise already during the previous rest periods. If not risen about double, allow longer.Let rise up to 2-5 h sometimes -depending on temperature & humidity until about double in size
6Pre-shapeDepending on books, pre-shaping is either done here, or earlier half way through the rising (if so disregard this step here). The action aims at diving the dough in loafs sizes and prepare a rough ball. Rest for « h.Same
7ShapingThis is where we give the round or long shape (or other) to the bread.Same
8Final risingHighly dependent on temperature. If you reach that stage in the evening, leave out for 1/2h to an hour then refrigerate, you will bake the next day. Otherwise can take 1 to 3 hours. Dough should almost double. Finger test (not necessary if refrigerating the dough)!Same
9Bake

Get a starter started

This is a section I have recently added as some people have asked.  Keep in mind that this is an easy process and all you need is time up your sleeve!

Apart from time, you also need:

  • unbleached organic rye flour
  • bottled water (has no chloride)
  • A large tall jar (platic or glass), must be super clean!

You do not need any sugar honey or grapes and anything you may found on some other blogs.  You can use them, but they are not strickly necessary.

Now, why unbleached rye flour? Because it has a lot of natural yeast on it, more than plain flour.   Latter on, you can feed it plain flour and it will be fine.

Tip: I sometimes feed my starter unbleahed rye flour to give it a boost.

Tip: yeast do not like being in a draught!

Tip: It doesn’t matter if you use 120 g or 50 g to start with. What matters is the ration water to flour, must be the same weight. 

Ready? Go!
  1. DAY ONE: in the jar mix 120 g of the bottled water with 120 g of the rye flour. Stir.  Cover with a cell wrap loosely  and set aside in a warm place for 24 h.
  2. DAY TWO:  Nothing much will have happened. Don’t worry.
  3. DAY THREE: A little of activity should start to appear, just a few small bubbles.  With a clean spoon, remove about half and add 60 g bottled water and 60 g rye flour.
  4. DAY FOUR: The starter will start to have a small acidic nice smell. Remove half of the content of the jar and add 60 g and 60 g of flour and water
  5. DAY FIVE: The starter should show good activity and significanlty increase in volume. If not, keep doing the Day 4 step for a few more days or until the starter becomes active.  If the starter is active, keep half of it and feed it 120 g of flour and 120 g of water.  The next day, it will have about trippled in volumes.  This is when you  either expand it further to make your bread (feed it, see next paragraph) or store it (further below).

Feed your stored starter

Remove the starter from the fridge, in a large bowl, mix with 160 g of warm like water, then add 160 g of baker’s flour, mix well.  Using your hand may be necessary.  Cover but not tightly and let it be until you are ready to make the bread.

The starter will double in size and should have a nice slightly acidic smell.  The starter will develop small then large bubbles, when fully fed, it will reach the maximum height. This is when you should use it, after this is will start deflating. You can still use it, but don’t wait too much.

Tip: Use wet hand when handling the starter manually, it will not stick.

Tip: The starter can be put in the fridge if you cannot make your bread the day planned and thus slowed and retarded.

Tip: starter feeling a bit down? Rejuvenate the yeast by using unbleached organic rye flour for half the weight of flour.  The unbleached rye flour contains wild yeast which will provide a boost to the starter.

This starter is ready to be used, it has even started to deflate. Time to make the bread. If you are ot ready to make the bread, place it in the fridge for a few hours until you are ready.
beautiful bubbles coming through this developping starter

Save your starter and store it

Once your starter is ready, you should ensure you save some for the next breads.

Place in a jar or plastic box:

  • 50 g of starter
  • 50 g of baker’s flour
  • 25 g of water

Mix well, pour on the workbench and knead it lightly to form a small ball, then put back in the box and close it.  If you are going to use it in a day or two, leave outside for 1 hour, otherwise within the next half hour place in the fridge.

Remember, this starter is a stiff starter and will store for up to a couple of weeks at the back of your fridge. Some recipes call for liquid starter, which is obtained after feeding twice your stored starter or requires adapting the water ratio to flour in the recipe (not covered here).

Saving 50 g of developed starter for the next batch

Basic White Sourdough Bread

We will make 700 g breads.  The measures in the table below are given for the two loaves and also the single one.

Ingredients 2 x 700 g 1 x 700 g
Flour 670 g 335 g
Salt 18 g 9 g
Water 380 g 190 g
Starter 385 g 190 g (rounded up)

Note:  the salt must be un-ionised salt.

MANUAL METHOD

  1. Mix all the ingredients together until a rough dough forms. Now, a note for the salt. Salt in direct contact with yeast kills the yeast, I often put the starter at the bottom, then water, flour and salt.
    Stand for 20 min or so, then take one corner and pull to the centre, give a quarter turn to the bowl and repeat until done 4 times. Alternatively, some recipes may call for a couple of envelope turns. Cover.
  2. Rest for 1 h.
  3. The dough will have risen slightly and will feel much lighter and stretchy. With one wet hand, pull one corner of the dough and “punch back” inside the middle. Turn the bowl a quarter turn. Repeat 3 times. This will deflate the dough slightly and it will become hard again.  This develops the gluten strands.
  4. Rest for 1 h
  5. Repeat the previous 2 steps.
  6. Now the dough should be quite smooth and elastic. It should also be about double the initial size. It is time to pre-shape.  Put your dough gently on a very slightly floured work bench.  If you have done the quantity for 2 breads, divide here in 2 roughly even portions.  The pre-shaping, only gives a round form to the portion of dough. Place your hands (cup them) behind the dough piece and slide them towards you without lifting them. The dough will roll on itself and tuck underneath itself creating some tension.  Give a quarter tune, repeat once. Then let to rest covered on a board for 30 min.
  7. Turn the pre-shape dough head down and press gently without deflating to even the dough either in a round (for a ball) or a rectangular (for a long loaf).To shape a ball:  pull one corner at the time to the centre of the dough. Repeat once with the “new” corners”. Draw up the edges to the centre. Pinch them together to “close” the ball (this will be the bottom of your bread).  Turn over. With cupped hand, pull the ball to stretch the skin of the dough on all sides (see the bubbles visible under the skin on photos below).
    sourdough round bread
    To shape a long loaf: Placing the rectangle long side in front of you, fold the left side just over halfway across the right, then fold the right side to the left so they slightly overlap.  Take each top corner from the short side of the rectangle and fold in towards the middle (see photo).  The dough will become quite narrow at the top.Fold the top towards you and press it lightly into the body of the dough. Repeat this action (corner and fold the point) several times until there is one fold left.  Fold the dough down the bottom edge and seal. With your thumbs.  Roll the dough forward to place the seam underneath.

    shaping
    bring the corners in
    shaping stage
    roll over towards you
    shaping
    Close by doing one last roll towards you before sealing the edge

    Two breads shaped, ready for their second rising overnight in the fridge.
  8. Place the shaped dough(s) in a floured banneton head down, cover slightly with flour and with a damp cloth and place in the refrigerator if retarding. The dough is ready when it pushes back halfway when you insert your finger in it (this is the finger test). Retarding the bread has for advantage to increase the fermentation length and develop further the taste.  The dough cannot over-rise when put in the fridge (i.e. rising is controlled).

DOUGH MIXER METHOD:

  1. Mix the ingredients at the exception of the salt. Once you get a rough dough, let it rest for 20 min.
  2. Turn on the mixer, add the salt, then continue turning on medium maximum for up to 10 min or until the dough forms a ball and does not stick to the bowl anymore.
  3. Transfer to a clean bowl, cover, let rise for 2 hours, maybe more until almost double
  4. From here, the method is the same as the manual one from step 6.

Tip: The yeast does not like being in a drought (at all!).

Tip: Wet your hand when handling the starter or the dough, it will avoid sticking to your finger and a big mess.

Tip: the autolyse allows the flour to absorb the water heavenly and as a result requires less mixing time. The salt is added latter as it draws the water away from the flour and thus reduced the process.

Tip: The yeast activity decreases with decreasing temperature (and reverse), it starts to become dormant from 4°C.

Tip: It is important that the bottom of the bread be well sealed or it will become the point of least resistance during the baking and will open.

Tip: The loaves are too big? Reduce the quantities to make a 500 g loaf.

Ingredients 2 x 500 g 1 x 500 g
Flour 480 g 240 g
Salt 13 g 6 g
Water 270 g 135 g
Starter 275 g 135 g (rounded up)

 

Tip: Some flour require a bit more water, add a few drops at the time only.

Tip: during the retarding process, it is important to maintain some moisture in the covering cloth to prevent the formation of a dry skin.

Tip: if you let it rise too much, no drama, bake readily. Your bread will flatten a fair bit, it happens to each of us, the next one will be better. Do not score the bread before placing in the oven.

Tip: the manual method may not be suited when using dry yeast in addition of the starter.  Dry yeast introduces millions of yeast cells compared to thousand contained in the starter.

BAKE YOUR BREAD

  1. If the bread was in the fridge, take it out, let it adapt to room temperature, if the bread has not risen enough, let it rise further.

    Risen, ready to bake
  2. Place a pan with water at the bottom of the oven, place your cooking stone/sheet on the middle rack. Heat up your oven about 220°C fan-forced (240°C otherwise).
  3. When the bread is ready to bake, remove your baking stone/sheet from the oven, quickly (no not to lose heat) place the bread on it making sure what was at the top of the banneton is now the bottom of the bread. Slash the bread and insert in the oven.
  4. Decrease oven temperature to 190°C forced-fan (210°C traditional). Bake until golden. Check that a loaf is cooked by tapping the base, it should sound hollow.
  5. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Tip: the role of the water pan is to create steam all through the baking, this will mostly allow the bread to keep rising and opening and the crust to be crusty and thin. Alternatively, this can be done by steaming the oven for 10 sec at the start of the baking. Some ovens have steaming functions. 

Tip: you can in theory keep your unbaked loaf in the fridge for a few days, ensure it is wrapped with a humid cloth.  I find it not very successful after Day 2 though.

Tip: to slash either used a very sharp pointy knife or a Stanley knife. If you are going to make a lot of bread, you will find on the net some dedicated bread slasher.  Do not leave any of those in the wrong places.

Variations

The introduction of seeds and currants is done generally after the initial 20 minutes rest.  It is critical to maintain the ration flour to added element when changing proportions.  It is also important to hydrate seeds and berries as specified to avoid those sucking all the water required for the dough itself.

Toasted seeds sourdough

Basically, if adding 50 g of seeds, also add 50 g of water.

For a 500 g loaf (480 g of flour):

  • 50 g sunflower seeds
  • 50 g pumpkin seeds
  • 25 g sesame seeds
  • 25 g poppy seeds
  • 100 g water

Combine all the seeds and toast in a dry frying pan on medium heat until lightly coloured. Let the seeds cool down in a bowl and pour the water over the top and stir. The seeds will soak all of the water.

Seeds are introduced after the first 20 min rest.

Walnut, pepitas and cranberries sourdough

For a 700 g loaf:

  • 70 g soaked cranberries
  • 70 g pepitas
  • 70 g walnut

Walnut and pepitas o not absorb water, so no need for additional one.  If the dough is too sticky after the 20 min rest, I add 1 spoon of flour at the time.  If too dry, a few drops of water at the time.

IMG_2412IMAG1207_1

Light Lamb roast with beetroot puree, cucumber, butter beans and cousous

 

For the lamb roast

  1. Ensure your roast is free of excess fat, trim as required (leave some but remove the large fat chunks).
  2. With a brush or your hand cover all sides with olive oil, then on each side grind some rock salt and pepper and add rosemary leaves. Let as such in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
  3. Preheat over to 200°C.  Heat up about 20 g of butter in a thick  bottom fry pan and brown each side of the roast, then transfer the meat to a roasting dish and place in the oven.
  4. Cook until roasted, the time will depend on the size of your piece. If unsure, use a meat thermometer. Remember you want it pink into the middle!
  5. Remove from the oven, cover with foil and rest for – minutes.

For the coucous

Boil the kettle, put 1 cup of couscous grains in a heatproof bowl, add 1 cup of boiling water, stir, cover loosely and leave to stand. Five minutes later, add a splash of oil, turn over with a fork to separate the grains and season to taste.

For the yogurt

Take one cup of Greek yogurt or similar plain yogurt.  Cut chives herbs in small length of half a centimeter (easier with scissors). Add a bit of salt and pepper.  Dust with turmeric powder.

For the cucumber

Peel the cucumber leaving a but of skin between each peel.  Place in a bowl.

For the butter beans

  1. Trim each end of the beans and clean as required.
  2. Place in an open fry pan with half a centimetre of water. Cook until just tender.

For the beetroot puree

Boil some water in a saucepan, add 1/s tbsp of rock salt.  Peel the 4 medium beetroots and cut into medium size chunks (it makes cooking quicker). When the water is boiling, place into the saucepan and cooked until tender when inserting a knife (about 30 min).

Transfer to a food processor, add 2 “vache qui rit”/”laughing cow” or similar soft cheese.  I used these ones because they have been in the fridge, my daughters asked for them but now refuse to eat them. Turn the food processor on until very smooth.  Adjust the salt.  Transfer to a bowl.