Bofrot (I think. We've reached Ghana on the baking odyssey!)

An apology. I forgot to take pictures cos I was super busy!

Anyway, google informs me reliably that one of the only (not really baked but dough based!) traditional type sweet things Ghana has given to the world which I could recreate without too much hassle are balls. Balls of fried dough, sweet with a kick of nutmeg.

These balls in fact:

Nice round doughnuts with a nutmeg flavour. Would I make them again? Probably not, but only for a couple of reasons:

1. I made them a bit too big, so the insides were a bit bland. Smaller ones would have probably had a better ratio of nice crisp chewy outside to soft inside. Maybe filling them with something would work?

2. They made the kitchen smell pretty oily thanks to the frying. I don't have a fryer, if you did I'm sure this wouldn't be as much of an issue.

The recipe: Made 8 reasonably chunky sized doughnuts...

Cobbled together from a few recipes on the internet!

125ml warm water

1 tsp fast action dry yeast

50g caster sugar

about 150-200g bread flour (enough to make a soft but not runny dough)

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg (I used 1/4tsp but I would use more next time).

Method: Knead all ingredients together until smooth and elasticy (about 5 minutes by hand). It doesn't have to be too worked. Leave it to rise for about 2 hours - the sugar in the dough retards the yeast so it will rise more slowly than regular bread dough. Once risen, knock back then divide into 8-10 balls.

When ready to cook, put veg or sunflower oil (or any other tasteless oil, by which I mean flavourless as opposed to one with an unsavoury outlook on life) to a depth of about 2-3 cm in a pan. Gently heat until a little pinch of the dough bubbles when plopped in, then lower the balls 3 or 4 at a time on a slotted spoon into the oil, Let it fry for 2-3 minutes, then turn over so it puffs evenly and browns all over. They will need about 6-8 minutes for each one if you make 10 out of this mixture. 

Drain on paper, dust with icing sugar and serve warm.

So... apologies to anyone who loves these, I don't think I did them justice! BUT it has given me confidence that I could one day make a decent doughnut. Deep fried dough, mmm!!

Next stop... Iceland! Til next time...

JB x

Around the world in a good few bakes... Iranian bread (Noon Barbari)

So, this week has brought me to... Iran!

Now, when I think of Iran I think of... umm... it used to be known as Persia, and they probably like rosewater?!

Pretty rubbish knowledge. Soz Iran. So I did a quick search and came up with a few fun facts. Basically, I am hugely ignorant, and Iranian food sounds amazing. Nuts, spices, rosewater (yay), orange blossom water, dried fruits and other such wonders abound. Also, there are a number of traditional breads which include this one. Any country which loves their spices and bread is good with me, so here goes... Apologies to anyone with and Iranian connections who may be offended by my attempt at this traditional bread!

Noon Barbari is, as far as I can gather, a traditional flatbread which has a couple of USPs. Firstly, it had these (four?) grooves in it, and second it is glazed with a funny mixture of baking powder, water and flour boiled together before being baked (Roomal), which gives it a fab crust and also a slightly browner appearance that you might expect.

Ingredients:

• First stage: 1 1/2 tsp dried yeast, 1 1/2 tsp honey, 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water, 1 1/4 cups bread flour. Whisk together until a bubbly batter is formed. then leave it 20 minutes til it's frothy and spongy looking...

• Next, add 1 tsp salt and 2 cups more flour, along with 1/2 tsp baking powder, and knead or dough-hook for 10 mins. It may be sloppy - keep going and it will come together! It did need a good 10 minutes to become workable. 

Rise for an hour...

Knock back gently, then I let it rise again for about half an hour while I made the Roomal...

• Roomal: 1/2 tsp flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 cup water - plop it in a jug, microwave for a minute until it boils for a bit, give it a whisk and then leave it to cool. It looks weird. Roomal done.
• Next... shapey shapey... I made four ovaly things, then dipping fingers into the glaze brush it all over and make four grooves along the shapes...

Lastly, sprinkle with nigella seeds...

And finally, BAKE! (a la Sue off GBBO) for 20 mins at 200 degrees C. This is what I ended up with...

Overall, it is a yummy bread. I have no real idea how close I may be to an actual traditional Noon Barbari, but it is light and fluffy with a chewy, crispy crust. Apparently it is eaten with crumbled feta style cheese and nuts. I indeed did eat one for dinner with crumbled, warmed feta, roasted peppers, roasted tomatoes and thyme. And it was ruddy delicious. Iran, excellent work :)

Next... Ghana. Better get researching!

JB x

Tasting menu at The Grainstore, Edinburgh *

* well... This menu was cooked for our lovely friends Mr and Mrs M and us by Mrs M's cousin Sean (used to work in The starred Balmoral) at The Grainstore in Edinburgh. He's amazingly talented, and also upsettingly young. This guy HAS to be destined for special foodie things, the venison dish was pretty much the best plate of food I've ever eaten and in my humble little opinion, was better than the Michelin starred restaurants I've had the pleasure of eating in. Word on the street is that he's going to be cooking in some pop ups in London over the coming months... If you get the chance you should definitely check it out.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves - it was every bit as good as it looked (oh, and the wine flight was gorgeous, the restaurant has a wonderful Sommelier with a beautiful voice who I could listen to all day...!)

Canapés...

 

 Gazpacho :)

Scallops with peas and bacon

Sea bass with piccalilli... GORGEOUS!

Smoked aubergine cannelloni. Outrageously tasty.

                                 Venison with beetroot, chocolate, red berries. INCREDIBLE.

                                                   Casual dessert - chocolate terrine...

 Strawberries and champagne :)

There was also a cheese course but in my over-excitement I forgot a pic :)

DEE-LISH food from an incredible young chef = happy me!!

JB x

Around the world in 80 (cough, nearly) bakes - week 1

Malaysia!
Never been, no idea about baking in Malaysia at all!

So, a google gave me this idea. It's called Kuih Sarang Semut, or 'honeycomb cake' or 'anthill cake' due to the interesting honeycomb structure which forms as it bakes.

And the results... Delicious! Think this might become a favourite - a little faffier than the usual but the results are spongy, kind of chewy and a bit crumpets, with a delicious caramel flavour. Worth a go (and you sound well fancy saying what you've baked :)

Here's the recipe I used...

Ingredients (I used a 2lb loaf tin)

• 250g sugar
• 250ml water (weigh it if you want it accurate!)
• 100g stork / marg / butter
• 250g plain flour
• 6 eggs
• 180g condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Method:

1.  Put the sugar in a pan over a medium heat until all melting into caramel, then turn the heat to low until it goes the colour of golden tea like this:

Don't stir it and don't use a non stick pan - the sugar might crystallise and turn into a grainy solid burny lump. Unfortunate. If this happens, make a sad face and start again.

2.  Now, this is the bit that comes with a health warning - be CAREFUL!!! The caramel is heinously hot and you're about to make it boil and splutter. All in the name of cake. Why not?! So, standing well back, add a tablespoon of water at a time while the pan is off the heat and stir it in. It'll all go crazy and a bit set and boil - that's OK:

Add the water bit by bit - it'll take a good few minutes to add all the water in. Keep stirring to melt any set sugar - you may need to warm it up a bit again. (NB - washing up the pan can be fun - hot water will melt the sugar off nicely, don't panic!

3.  Add the butter or marg into the caramel off the heat and stir until melted, and set aside. Tricky part done :)

4. Now the more conventional cakey part - in a mixer, place the flour and add about half of the caramel butter mixture (lukewarm, not hot). Beat it for a couple of minutes until smooth and not lumpy. Don't worry about overworking the flour and getting glutenous, it's meant to be kind of a tad rubbery (in a nice way!). Once all the lumps have gone, gently drizzle in the rest of the liquid until it's all mixed. It'll be tres sloppy. Fear not.

5.  Now, add the eggs one by one to add to the slop along with the condensed milk and vanilla paste.

 Left is initially, right is after all the slop is added together.

6. Now SIFT (I know, I hate sifting, but here I imagine you'd get lumps to end all lumps if you didn't) the baking powder and bicarb in and mix mix mix for a minute or so until it looks bubbly.

7.  Pour into the tin... I know, it looks terrible and crappy and sloppy and fizzy. I was more concerned than I like to admit. 

8. Now, the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed I didn't say to preheat an oven at any point... you put this in a COLD oven. Witchcraft. So, plonk it into your oven, shut the door, put the temp to 150 degrees C and bake for an hour or so, until a knife / skewer / cocktail stick / pokey thing comes out clean. You will have something like this...

Yay! Look at all those lovely little tunnels and holes for the ants to run through! More to the point, it's deee-lish. And lasts really well wrapped up in a bit of cling film. Go Malasia!!!

Next week... Iran. Iran?!....

JB x

A plan has been hatched...

So. Mr B and I have been talking. I've hatched a plan and it goes like this...

Every week, I will bake a recipe from a different country in the world. I'm aiming to do this for a year, so 52 countries in total will be baked... Savory, sweet, bread, cake, pastry etc all count, the only rules are the recipe must be a traditional kind of recipe and involve flour or an oven in order to create it. I've found a random country generator to help me out but any suggestions welcome!!

This week... Malaysia! 

It worked!

So, cauliflower base pizza. Actually tastes lush. Method was exactly as previous link; only difference was I had a baby courgette to use up instead of onion as the topping, Grana Padano instead of Parmesan, and 125g of Tesco half fat mozzarella as it is lower in calories than the cheese used in the original. 240 calories per half pizza!

Yummy! 

JB x

Cauliflower base pizza

This will follow tomorrow. One of those crazy weird no carb paleo type things, but I have on good authority it actually tastes OK. I'm going to try out the recipe on this lovely blog...

Cauliflower pizza

Will report back. Have cynical face on but open to it...!

JB x