A day with Lesley Waters

28 April 2013 By 6 Comments
Pumpkin seed, sage and thyme plait loaf

Pumpkin seed, sage and thyme plait loaf

Last week, I had a really fun day at the Lesley Waters cookery school down here in Dorset. I spent the day with Lesley and a small number of other guests cooking in her beautiful cookery school kitchen which has recently been custom built adjacent to her Dorset home.

We spent the day cooking a number of Lesley’s signature dishes which was most enjoyable and included bread making, preparing and cooking fresh Dorset seafood, and some fantastic ideas for fresh, quick and absolutely delicious meals. I came away feeling really inspired, thanks to Lesley’s  enthusiastic way of teaching and her generosity with ideas.

Most of the food we made on the day we ate for lunch, with the exception of this delicious loaf of bread we made. I took it home and it was such a hit, I found myself making it again in the week.

The pumpkin seed, sage and thyme plait loaf is absolutely delicious and is great to enjoy at this time of year with salads, and even in a bacon sandwich. It is an adaptation of this recipe found here, with 5 tbsp of toasted pumpkin seeds, and 3 tbsp each of finely chopped fresh sage and thyme added at stage 6 of the recipe and worked into the dough.

It was also a fantastic use of my lovely new Mermaid baking sheet which I was sent to celebrate National Bread Week which worked really well here. A lipless baking sheet is really helpful when making complicated loaves of bread as you can simply flour the bread and slide the loaf on to the sheet, rather than having to pick it up and transfer it, which can result in a misshapen loaf.

Filed Under: Baking, Dinner, Lunch, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Super simple baked chocolate pudding

23 April 2013 By Leave a Comment
Super simple baked chocolate pudding

Super simple baked chocolate pudding

On a colder evening, a hot pudding makes the perfect end to a meal. A chocolate pudding is extremely simple to make, requires very few ingredients and doesn’t take too long to cook.

This chocolate pudding is a very straightforward recipe to prepare, and one which need not feel too ambitious or daunting. It is one which I will gladly make on a weeknight, as it will cook whilst we eat our main course.

The key to making this pudding really special is the quality of chocolate you use. I used 70% cocoa French dark chocolate from Thornton’s. It has a wonderful flavour and adds a really rich chocolatey flavour to the pudding. This may sound like an obvious thing to write, but using a lower quality chocolate does not work as well, as it has a high fat and sugar content, and the chocolate flavour does not come through as well. Make sure your eggs are as fresh as can be, too. I get mine from the local farm who do weekly home deliveries, and they are infinitely superior to supermarket free-range eggs.

Super simple baked chocolate pudding

Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients:

20g butter

200g dark chocolate, I used 70% cocoa French Dark Chocolate from Thornton’s

100g caster sugar

5 large free-range eggs, separated

Method:

1)        Start by preheating the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6

2)        Take a 1 litre capacity oven proof dish and butter the inside well.

3)        Break the chocolate into squares and melt either using the microwave or in a bain marie. Set aside to cool for a few minutes once melted

4)        Place the sugar and egg whites together into a bowl. Whisk together until they form stiff peaks.

5)        Now, add the egg yolks to the melted chocolate and beat together until smooth.

6)        Add the egg yolk a tablespoon and at time and mix into the chocolate. Try to mix as gently as possible so that you don’t knock too much air out of the egg whites.

7)        Spoon into your prepared ovenproof dish, smooth the top and back for 25-30 minutes until it forms a slight crust on tip. It will be light and spongy with a gooey centre.

8)        Serve hot or cold. Delicious served with cream or ice cream.

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Cinnamon and sultana swirl loaf

19 April 2013 By 7 Comments
Cinnamon and sultana swirl loaf

Cinnamon and sultana swirl loaf

I really fancied making a sweeter loaf of bread this week, and this cinnamon and sultana loaf came to mind.

I love sweet breads, but this one is really not too sweet at all, just slightly sweet, and essentially, just a slightly healthier version of a cinnamon bun, which is always a winner for me.

It is National Bread week this week, and the nice people at Mermaid have very kindly sent me the lovely 2lb loaf tin in the photo above, which is absolutely fantastic. I find sweet breads, made with a softer dough than traditional loaves do have a tendency to stick to the tin a little more, but this loaf released from the tin effortlessly. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we have – a real hit here!

The loaf, sliced

The loaf, sliced

Cinnamon and sultana swirl loaf

Makes one large 900g loaf

Ingredients

For the dough 

350g strong white bread flour

350g white plan flour

2 tsp. yeast

1 tsp. salt

75g caster sugar

250ml milk, warmed

50g butter

2 large free-range eggs, beaten

 

For the filling

 

3 tsp. cinnamon

5 tbsp. demerara sugar

25g melted butter

75g sultanas (use raisins if you like: I’m not a fan)

 

For the topping

 

1 large free-range eggs, beaten

 

Method

 

1)   Mix the dry ingredients for the dough in a large mixing bowl

2)   Warm the milk to it is lukewarm temperature and add the butter. Stir until melted, and pour into the flours and sugar, along with the eggs. Mix well.

3)   Mix until it forms a stiff dough and knead for around 5 minutes.

4)   Cover with cling film and allow to prove in a warm place for around 2 hours until it’s doubled in size.

5)   Now, knead the dough briefly for a minute or so and roll out on a floured worksurface to around 2 cm thick and the height the same as the length of the loaf tin.

6)   Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the dough. Brush it with the melted butter and scatter over the sultanas.

7)   Roll up the dough lengthways so you end up with a swiss roll shaped piece of dough the length of your baking tin.

8)   Cover the dough with oiled cling film and allow to prove again for a further hour

9)   Now, preheat the oven to 190C. Brush the loaf with beaten egg and bake for 30-40 minutes until the crust is browned and crunchy.

10)  Serve warm on its own or spread with butter. It’s also delicious toasted.

Filed Under: Baking, Recipes, Reviews, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,
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