Week Ninety Six – Mary Berry’s Doughnuts & Austrian Apricot & Almond Tart

Posted on Oct 5, 2014 by kimsideas

Week 96 and only a little late in being published! I delved with relish into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible having been inspired by The Great British Bake Off‘s doughnut episode. In the children’s section of the bible, there is a recipe for Mary’s basic doughnuts which I was happy to begin with and found the Austrian tart recipe as my second bake.

I set off by making the dough for the doughnuts, as it contains yeast, I had to then leave it to prove for quite a long while. Luckily my kitchen was warm and it rose as it should. Mary then asks you to knock it back and knead it again. Then divide the dough into approximately 16 balls and – this was the weird part- add a spoon of strawberry jam to the centre of each ball and fold in and then leave to prove again. Finally after the last prove, you are asked to deep fry them- this had posed a question, I do not own a deep fat fryer and didn’t want to buy one just to complete this challenge so I bought a basket and used one of my saucepans. this worked well but you can’t control the temperature of the fat as accurately as a fryer. I fried my doughnuts two at a time and then rolled them in the sugar/cinnamon mix and left them to cool. I then sent a food parcel to my chief tasters and we delved into the rest!

For my first foray into doughnuts, I didn’t think they were too bad!

The second recipe, the Austrian apricot and almond tart involved making Mary’s pastry first and then rolling it out to fit in my flan tin. I grated the marzipan and put this in the pastry case first followed by halved apricots. Mary doesn’t really tell you how to lay these in but I made circles of them. Finally you have to roll out a circle of pastry for the top and press it down and it creates a landscape of rolling hills with the apricots. the last step was to put it in the oven.

I had to bake the tart for a little longer than Mary suggested but it was definitely worth it, I had a tart that was very tasty – the apricots and melted marzipan flavours definitely complimented each other and there wasn’t a soggy bottom in sight!

The Bake Off has nearly reached it’s conclusion now- the final is this week- I would now like Richard to win but am looking forward to the episode with bated breath!

Week Ninety Five – Mary Berry’s Crown Loaf and Griddle Scones

Posted on Sep 21, 2014 by kimsideas

Week ninety five here already and after the excitement of last week, I browsed through Mary Berry’s Baking Bible looking for some more savoury recipes after the richness of last week’s recipes and I was wiped out by a migraine which set all my usual housework jobs back by a day. I settle on Mary’s crown loaf and griddle scones.

I began the dough this morning , mixing all the ingredients together for the crown loaf and then spending five minutes kneading it before setting it into an oiled bowl to prove for 1 1/2 hours. After this time, the dough was nicely risen and I had to then knock it back and knead again, divide into 12 balls and set these inside a springfold tin and cover with clingfilm and leave to prove for another half an hour.

Finally , once the last prove is done, bake in a hot over for 25 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack. The crown loaf looked lovely and the smell of freshly baked bread is a winner in our house.

The second recipe was Mary’s griddle scones, these are thicker than drop scones and I followed Mary’s recipe carefully to make the dough, I then rolled it into a circle and cut into segments. I heated a heavy based pan and cooked the segments for about five minutes each side and left them to cool on a rack.

Mary suggests eating them fresh with butter but we ate some of the crown loaf first for lunch and look forward to these for supper. Sorry chief tasters, no sharing with you guys this week- but I am guessing that you are still wading through your dobaz torte from Thursday.

The Great British Bake Off is coming up to quarter finals now and the three contestants I initially named are still in it so far- lets see how they do this week and if Mary has any more recipes I have yet to do?

Countdown now reaches 78.

Week Ninety Four – Mary Berry’s Chocolate Swiss Roll & Dobaz Torte

Posted on Sep 21, 2014 by kimsideas

Week ninety four and my bake was done in two parts this week. I delved with glee into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and found the chocolate swiss roll which I made at the weekend and then the Great British Bake Off inspired me to try May’s dobaz torte….

Firstly the chocolate swiss roll, I used my new all singing all dancing stand mixer to take up the strain of the mix and the only effort I had was to melt the chocolate over a bowl of hot water! I lined a swiss roll tin and poured the mix in. Into the oven it went and I set the timer, put the kettle on, made a cup of tea and put out a sheet of grease proof paper sprinkle with caster sugar ready for the baked sponge. Meanwhile, I read the next steps and whipped the cream ready for the next step. The timer pinged and I got the sponge out, tipped it carefully out onto the sugar coated paper and carefully peeled the lining paper off. Finally I rolled the sponge into a roll with the grease proof paper rolled up with it and left this to cool.

Mary Berry's Chocolate Swiss Roll

Finally I was able to warm thejam through- Mary suggests blackcurrant jam but I found a lovely conserve by Bonne Maman – berries and cherries conserve which was so nice with the chocolate sponge and cream. I unrolled the sponge, spread the jam and cream in it, rolled it back up and cut it in half so that the chief tasters would get their part.

The second bake I made midweek on a day off, while having a new carpet laid in the lounge. It all sounded so easy, go to shop, order carpet, ensure room is empty…hold on, where do we put all the furniture-borrow groundsheets from chief taster, move most furniture into the garage and place on groundsheets, take up old carpet and underlay and notice that the paintwork and walls all need wiping. Spend the baking day wiping paintwork down and waiting for the call from the fitters. I read Mary’s recipe which says to mark circles on grease proof paper, make the cake mix and spread onto the circles and bake in batches.

This was not too difficult and I soon had 6 weirdly flat sponge circles done. Carpet fitters arrived. Next step, make butter cream- use stand mixer to soften and mix butter. Meanwhile over a pan of hot water mix the eggs and sugar with an electric hand whisk while the carpet fitters go back to the warehouse to get the right underlay! Keep whisking the mix while walking to the lounge window to ensure the fitters aren’t back yet as the mixers are noisy and I can’t hear the door bell. Finally add this mix to the butter and melt chocolate over the pan of hot water and add to the butter cream. Mix again.

Carpet fitters arrive- ( They make me feel really old!) and I read Mary’s instructions about making the caramel. I add the water and the sugar together in a pan and heat gently then allow to boil. When it changed colour, I poured some over one of the sponge layers and the rest on a sheet of grease proof paper. Carpet fitters seem to lay underlay and carpet super quick and I leave the cake to put together later. Vacuum lounge and begin to put room back together again- fail dismally and end up with the essentials for the night- TV and sofa!

Take a few hours off work the next day, put the cake together- sandwich the 5 sponge layers with butter cream, spread butter cream around the sides and roll in the caramel that you are supposed to crush with a rolling pin from the day before- slight problem, caramel too sticky, won’t crush. Hubby makes a batch, sets well but tastes burnt so plan C- grated chocolate. Sides suitably covered, decorate the top of the cake with the caramel covered sponge cut into slices. finish with a swirl of butter cream and give to the chief tasters for their 49th wedding anniversary! PHEW….

The dobaz torte was a fiddly cake to make and probably not one that I would re-visit but another one ticked off the list…and the countdown now stands at 80 recipes left to bake.

Week Ninety – Mary Berry’s Pecan Pie & Walnut & Apricot Sandwich Bars

Posted on Aug 26, 2014 by kimsideas

Week ninety and things had settled a little at home so I settled to this week’s bake with a little less stress than last week. The first bake I chose from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible was Mary’s Pecan Pie. This recipe involved making a shortcrust pastry, allow it to chill in the fridge for a while, roll it out and line a flan tin with it and line the pastry with foil, add beans and blind bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the foil and beans and then bake for another 15 minutes.

To prepare the topping, lay the pecan nuts in the pastry case and add the other topping ingredients into a saucepan and heat through until mixed, then pour into the pastry case and allow to cool and set. I thought this was a rather yummy pudding but hubby wouldn’t try it as he doesn’t like pecans…..or walnuts…..or most other nuts!

The second recipe was Mary’s walnut and apricot sandwich bars, firstly you need to cut up the apricots and boil them in some water and sugar until soft and squishy (technical baking term!) and then mix together the other ingredients, mainly, butter flour , oats and syrup. Add half the mixture to the square tin and flatten down, add the apricots and again, flatten down and finally the remainder of the mixture and flatten for the last time.

Bake in the oven and when ready, cut into bar shapes while cooling. I have eaten various breakfast bars in my life and found these to be quite stodgy, I think it was adding the flour to the mix that did this. They weren’t overly popular in our house and the remainder ended up in the food recycling bin.

I have been watching the Great British Bake Off with interest and now am showing interest in two or three of the contestants- I like Martha, the young girl who seems to have no fear or nerves, Like Luis the star baker of the week and I Like Nancy….lets see if one of these wins, I liked Frances from the beginning last year-and she won!

Week Eighty Nine, Mary Berry’s Almond & Cherry Tray Bake & Florentines

Posted on Aug 16, 2014 by kimsideas

Week 89 took over where week 88 left off, halfway through managing hubby’s leg burn and various trips to hospital for leg dressings and caring for him at home. I used Mary Berry’s Baking Bible as a bit of respite and my challenge as an excuse to do something normal for an hour or two. I chose Mary’s almond and cherry tray bake and the Florentine biscuits. I had caught up on the Great British Bake Off and saw that they contestants would be making Florentine biscuits so thought I would give them a go as they were in the bible and I hadn’t done them yet.

I started with the tray bake which is the usual Mary’s easy recipe of throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix and pour! I put the tray bake in the oven and sat and read the Florentine recipe carefully.

The tray bake baked well and smelt amazing. I left it to cool while getting on with the biscuits.

Mary’s Florentine recipe asks you to put the sugar, butter and golden syrup into a pan and heat gently, allowing it all to melt. Allow to cool slightly and add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.

Add spoonfuls of the mix to the baking trays and bake. Watch the biscuits carefully as they can go from under baked and a bit soft to burnt very quickly- this didn’t happen to me thankfully but Mary adds this warning to her recipe! Once bakes, allow to cool slightly and transfer to a baking tray. Then melt some dark chocolate and spread over the back and make a zig zag pattern with a fork in the chocolate.

I watched the Great British Bake Off this week and thought that they all did a cracking job with the technical challenge of Florentines and was pleased that mine had gone well- the only downside was that hubby and I didn’t like them very much!

Week Eighty Eight – Mary Berry’s Come and Come Again Cake

Posted on Aug 16, 2014 by kimsideas

No apologies for this late blog I am afraid other than life gets in the way and it has been a pretty bad two weeks but I don’t want to get into that now , it will distract you from the bake! We were going away in our caravan with the hairy hoolies and I wanted a bake that I could take with me so Mary Berry’s Baking Bible had this come and come again fruit cake which i decided to make.

It’s one of Mary’s easy recipes with the directions of put all the recipes in a bowl, mix and bake! I love these! I set the timer and went off to pack all the stuff needed for our trip. I always have the plan to take minimal stuff and the car is always packed to the ceiling….sigh! The timer pinged and the cake was done. I let it cool down and then cut a quarter for my chief tasters -(after all, they are on strict diets!) and put the rest in a tin to take with us. I must say that although it was a nice fruit cake, some of her other fruit cake recipes have been nicer. It was a great bake for a van though and went down well with a cuppa once we had set the van up!

I only managed one bake this week due to …umm I want to put due to our holiday but it turned into a rescue mission. Without going into too much detail, hubby dropped a kettle of boiling water over his leg, major trauma, taken to local hospital to where we were staying, there for about 8 hours, transferred to Bristol burns unit, kept in over night, I had to manage dogs and caravan and then do a 140 mile round trip to collect him the next day, pack up the van and tow home…… I felt like this:-

But looked like this:- !

Week Eighty Seven – Mary Berry’s Raspberry Meringue Roulade & Date & Walnut Tray Bake

Posted on Jul 28, 2014 by kimsideas

I really don’t know where the weeks go you know, I plan my bakes for the weekends but sometimes life generally just gets in the way. This is my bake from last week, a little late and no bake from this week so far as I have had a cold, studying to do and a birthday to celebrate so I will try to make something in the week to “bank” for the blog! My delve into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible dug out the roulade recipe and a tray bake. I made the roulade first. It was Mary’s usual whisk the egg whites together and add the caster sugar – but one teaspoon at a time. Really? The amount of sugar for the recipe, I would have been there all day, adding a spoon at a time and whisking well in between, so I am guilty of not following Mary’s recipe to the exact letter this week- tut tut!

Once I had added all the sugar- and yes it was slowly, I poured it into the lined tray, covered the top with flaked almonds and baked for the recommended time. Half way through, you have to turn the oven down and this needs careful timing. Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly then turn out onto greaseproof paper. While waiting for it too cool a little more to roll, whisk the double cream and mix the fresh raspberries into it. Spread the cream and raspberry mix onto the meringue and use the greaseproof paper to help roll the meringue into a roulade. I thought this would be tricky but I didn’t find it too bad at all. Leave the roulade wrapped in the paper and put into the fridge. The roulade was really long!

The second recipe was the date and walnut tray bake. Slightly more fiddly in that Mary asks you to cut up the dates, put them in a bowl with the softened butter and some boiling water and allow to cool. In the meantime, put the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and mix, then add the date mix when cooler.

Line a tray bake tin and pour the mix in. Cook as per Mary’s recipe. Once cooked, allow to cool in the tin and make the icing topping. I must admit I was a bit dubious about making a lemon icing topping on a date and walnut tray bake but it seemed to compliment it well. Finally decorate with walnut pieces.

I divided my bakes as usual and gave some to my chief tasters ….who have now informed me that they are on strict diets so I may have to half Mary’s recipe amounts or I will have to resort to feeding the neighbourhood by putting a table outside!

My hubby informs me that our blog has now had over 50, 000 views since we started it – not just for my cake adventures, but also our photography, and Canadian adventure too so thank you all for helping to build up this figure!

Oh and my countdown continues…..93 to go….and having a week’s break isn’t helping…..but on a brighter note- the Great British Bake Off starts next week- I will be there, watching every bake!

Week Eighty Six – Mary Berry’s Mushroom & Garlic Stuffed Picnic Loaf & Cheese Straws

Posted on Jul 17, 2014 by kimsideas

Week eighty six and I thought I would be a little adventurous this week and attempt something with yeast! I delved into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and found the mushroom and garlic stuffed picnic loaf and to complete the savoury theme, cheese straws to compliment.

I made the bread dough as per Mary’s instructions and left it to rise or prove for two hour. With the lovely weather we have been having, this wasn’t an issue for me this time! I read the recipe carefully and Mary suggests either making one whole loaf that is stuffed or rolls so I opted for rolls as they are shared more easily.

Mary Berry's Mushroom & Garlic stuffed picnic loaf

The only issue I had was following the instructions for filling and folding the dough which proved to be tricky as it isn’t a sealed loaf. I added the filling and molded, coaxed, prodded and poked the dough until it resembled a roll rather than a wreck and left them to prove for a while longer. Then finally they went into the oven for about 15 minutes. When they came out, I had to brush them with some of the mushroom oil from the recipe and leave them to cool.

The second recipe was for cheese straws. This was an easy dough to put together and then wrap in clingfilm for half an hour. Time ran out and the dough wasn’t used until the following day and needed to be worked a bit as it was a solid block!

I rolled it out and cut the dough into straws and brushed them with egg and sprinkled with fresh Parmesan cheese. Into the oven they went for a short while until golden and brown.

I have been trying to catch up with the Celebrity Master Chef – the episodes are currently stacked up ready to watch but I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Wayne Sleep did and how much he learned in such a short space of time.

I treated my kitchen this week too. I have seen some wall signs where the words are transferred directly onto the wall and found a lovely kitchen sign that reflected my love of baking! It was a bit of a pain to put up but worth it and I love it!

Week Eighty Five – Mary Berry’s Chocolate Chip Cookies & Lime Lattice Cookies

Posted on Jul 9, 2014 by kimsideas

Week eighty five and I delved with my usual glee into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible – I thought that perhaps with less than 100 now to go, that my choices would be getting more limited but not yet. There are I must admit some recipes I keep passing over, yes I know I have to do them all eventually….

Any how, I decided this week would be a bit of a cookie fest and I began with Mary’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. The way Mary describes them is that they should be soft and chewy, a bit like Millie’s cookies was what came to mind. I made the dough which was simple enough and then Mary asks you to put large teaspoons of the mixture on to baking sheets, fairly well spaced apart. I managed this and placed the trays in the oven to cook and set the timer.

Once the timer had pinged, I removed the cookies from the oven and allowed them to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring them to the cooling racks. I was pleased with how they came out and even if I do say so, they were as good as Millie’s cookies.

the second batch of cookies were Mary’s lime lattice cookies. Mary’s recipe for this is very simple and the hardest part was finely grating two limes. Mary suggests using a skewer to create a lattice pattern on top of these cookies but I used the wires from an egg slicer instead.

Mary asks you to add “walnut” sized pieces of dough onto the trays, create the lattice effect on top and bake. These were zesty and tangy, a lovely contrast to the rich chocolate chip cookies.

I am avidly awaiting the new series of The Great British Bake Off which is going to be shown this summer on BBC1. There was an article in The Metro about there being a spin off series on BBC2 called An Extra Slice to show more of the footage etc so I will have more to watch-yippee!

Week Eighty Four- Mary Berry’s Brandy Snaps & Chocolate Chip & Vanilla Marble Cake

Posted on Jun 30, 2014 by kimsideas

Week eighty four, or should I say week eighty four and a half as this week’s bake was done in two halves. I actually made the brandy snaps last weekend but didn’t find the time to blog about it so incorporated it into this week’s bake and blog.

I was inspired to try the brandy snaps after watching one of the celebrity master chef episodes where each celebrity was given the challenge of producing a brandy snap, with quite hilarious results. So I delved into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and found the recipe and off I set.

On celebrity master chef, the celebrities were given a dough and asked to make it into a brandy snap. Mary’s mix is quite liquid in comparison. So much so that I thought I had done it wrong initially but when I put teaspoons of the gloopy mix on the baking tray, it produced the desired effect and I was able to roll them into a brandy snap and leave them to cool.

I served mine with ice cream and yes, they did “snap” when bitten into!

The second recipe, made this week was Mary Berry’s chocolate chip & vanilla marble cake which is made into a tray bake. The basic cake mix is one of Mary’s mix everything together all in one mix ….but with a variation. Mary then asks you to place spoons of half this mixture in random places in the tray and then add the cocoa and hot water and chocolate chips to the other half of the cake mix and mix again, then place spoons of this in the spaces left in the tray. I then used a spoon to ripple it all together.

One tip I have learnt with adding chocolate chips is to roll them in flour before adding them to the mix and this should prevent them all sinking to the bottom which has happened to me so many times. It definitely seemed to work this time. Once the cake was baked, I left it to cool.

Mary asks you to then melt some dark chocolate- I substituted milk chocolate for this and some white chocolate and drizzle them over the top to finish the cake. I decided to created a ripple effect on mine and loved the effect

The countdown continues…and YAY! I have now got 99 left to go- down to two figures at last!

Lewis & Kim

Lewis & Kim Brown's blog of Baking, Photography, Dogs, Canada and whatever takes our fancy…

Tag Archives: Baking Bible

Week Ninety Six – Mary Berry’s Doughnuts & Austrian Apricot & Almond Tart

Week Ninety Five – Mary Berry’s Crown Loaf and Griddle Scones

Week Ninety Four – Mary Berry’s Chocolate Swiss Roll & Dobaz Torte

Week Ninety – Mary Berry’s Pecan Pie & Walnut & Apricot Sandwich Bars

Week Eighty Nine, Mary Berry’s Almond & Cherry Tray Bake & Florentines

Week Eighty Eight – Mary Berry’s Come and Come Again Cake

Week Eighty Seven – Mary Berry’s Raspberry Meringue Roulade & Date & Walnut Tray Bake

Week Eighty Six – Mary Berry’s Mushroom & Garlic Stuffed Picnic Loaf & Cheese Straws

Week Eighty Five – Mary Berry’s Chocolate Chip Cookies & Lime Lattice Cookies

Week Eighty Four- Mary Berry’s Brandy Snaps & Chocolate Chip & Vanilla Marble Cake

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