Tom's Oven Scones

This month I decided to have another go at oven scones, something I've never had much success with.  I tried a different recipe from the one I usually use, this one is from the Good Housekeeping cookery book (1978 ed.).  Makes around 10-12 scones.

Ingredients

8oz self raising flour
1-2oz butter or baking margarine
¼ pint milk
1tsp baking power
pinch salt

This will make rather dull plain scones, you can add various flavourings with the flour - I added some chopped dates and almonds. The Book recommends adding 2oz of your flavouring.

Method

Pre-heat oven to 230°C, and warm a baking sheet or two in the oven.

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking power (it does make a difference!), then rub in the butter or margarine to make a fine breadcrumb texture.  Add enough of the milk to make a soft dough.  Turn out onto a floured surface and knead very lightly until it forms an reasonably evenly textured lump.  Roll out to about 2cm thickness and cut into rounds with a cutter or triangles with a sharp knife - don't twist the cutter or use a knife which you have to saw at the dough to cut it; this will stop the scones from rising well.  Place on a warmed baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes at 230°C until well risen and browned.

My scones turned out much better than my previous attempts, but still weren't fantastic - they didn't rise very much - I think I used too blunt a knife to cut the dough up.  Let that be a warning to others!

Good luck with your own scones.

Ruth's Practice Makes Perfect. Maybe. MACAROONS!

Okay. So I tried to make macaroons. 
I have tried to make them before but they always came out awful.
This time was NO exception. Sigh. 

I even tried using the recipe from the Great British Bake off. Oh well. Here goes!! 

Ingredients:
110g egg whites (whites from approx 3 large eggs)75g caster sugar
125g ground almonds175g icing sugar

You will also need a food processor, a large bowl, spatula, sieve and whisk.

Measure out the ground almonds and icing sugar and put them into the food processor.  Turn it on and leave it on. 


Measure out the egg whites, macaroons need special measures.  

Egg whites are measured in grams seems a bit silly to me as surely you measure them in ml’s as a liquid but hey ho 110g egg whites = 110ml egg whites.

Maybe try out egg whites from 'Two Chicks'. The egg whites can be bought in Waitrose, Sainsburys, Tescos.  

Place them into a large bowl and whisk like you would a meringue.  As the mixture comes to soft peaks begin adding the caster sugar a third at a time until it’s all worked in and smooth and glossy.

You don’t need to whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks but they should be thick and glossy.
One of the wonderful things about macaroons are their fab colours – whatever takes your fancy.

Using gel paste colours is the best way to colour the mixture without changing the consistency.
Add a small amount of colouring to the meringue and mix in well.

Now you can turn off the Food Processor (and take your ear defenders off).
Sift into the meringue mixture half of the almond/icing sugar from the food processor.

Fold into the mixture using a spatula or metal spoon until it’s fully mixed in.
Sift in the final half.

The residue left in the sieve can be very grainy and hard so don’t force it through the sieve just discard it.

Fold in as before.

Now comes the tricky part,  you need to keep folding the mixture until it goes smooth and glossy.  By my reckoning this takes 1-2 minutes folding in a figure of 8.  This loosens the mixture until it is the right consistency.  You really don’t want to knock ten tons of air out of it but achieving the right point is important.

Hold your spatula above the bowl.  The mixture should run from it in a smooth ribbon.  If it’s jerky and breaking then it isn’t right yet.  Just watch out though you want to stop right at this point and go no further, otherwise you’ll have hugely spreading macaroons.


Add the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a plain wide round nozzle.

Prepare two baking tins lined with grease proof paper.

Pipe the macaroons onto the tray in small circles.  To begin with they will have a small peak on the top.  If you have the correct consistency that will soon flatten and you will have a tray full of perfectly smooth macaroons. 

If you are adding crystallised rose petals or violets for decoration then now’s the time to pop them on the top.

Now you need to set the trays aside for 30 minutes.  After this time they should have formed a slight ‘skin’ and you should be able to touch them with your fingertip.

Preheat the oven to 140c Fan/160c/Gas Mark 3.
Place the trays in the oven for 13 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool, still on the tray.  Good macaroons should be smooth and glossy with a good foot and not flat.

Sandwich together with a buttercream or ganache of your choice.  

Parma Violet Buttercream
1 large packet of Parma Violets, ground plus icing sugar to weigh a total of 125g250g butter, softened1 tbsp milk

Yeah. Mine didn't turn out so great. Never mind. Better luck next time. If I can be bothered!!! 


(Not mine)

March - Practise Makes Perfect!

Oooops, I'm a little late with this one and the recipes have started coming in already!!

A theme we've been toying with for a little while was for our bakers to try their hand at baking something they were not very good at - hence, practise makes perfect!

It could have easily been a disastrous month, with us all going home early, but it was far from it! Everything was definitely edible, and actually tasty! Hurrah!

Joy commented that collectively, the club are bad at beige.

Anna baked a Polish Tray Bake, Catherine baked a Chocolate Ginger Loaf, Clare baked a dairy-free Chocolate Cake, Joy baked some sausage rolls, Lorna baked some Danish Pastries, Lou baked some Cookies, Mary-Anne baked and decorated some cupcakes, Ruth baked some macaroons, I made croissants, and Tom baked Scones!

Lorna's Danish Pastries

You'd better clear a good 4 hours for this! It's not all work, a lot of roll, fold and chill for the pastry but it does take a while.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

500g white bread flour

360g butter, softened

1 sachet dried yeast

65g caster sugar

150ml lukewarm milk

2 eggs, beaten

Fillings + Toppings:

maple syrup

caremel sauce

pecans, chopped

100g icing sugar

Method:

Mix the flour and the sugar and rub in 60g of butter. Stir in the yeast, make a well in the centre and add the milk and eggs. Mix until combined to a dough. Knead for 15 minutes on the worktop until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl covered with clingfilm and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.

Tip out, and roll into a 8x14" rectangle. Lay on your worktop with so it's short and wide. Take half of the remaining butter (150g) and dot the right two-thirds of your dough with it. Then fold the left third (not buttered bit) end over, followed by the right third on top of that,  to end up with 3 layers o dough with butter in between each layer.

Seal the edges of the dough, turn 90 degrees (so the sealed edges are left and right as you see it). Roll out into a rectangle again maintaining, and repeat the same process. Once folded up, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 20 minutes. Roll out, fold up and chill 3 more times (same as before but no butter).

Finally you'll have some dough you can actually use! Cut into 4 equal portions, and shape each section into one of the below:

Pinwheels:

Roll into an 8" square, and cut into 4. With each small square, cut into the corners diagonally into the centre, but not all the way. Place some maple syrup in the middle and sprinkle with pecans. Then take alternate corners and fold into the middle to create a pinwheel.

Kites:

Roll into an 8" square and cut into 4 smaller squares. In two opposite corners make 2 cuts about 1/2" in, as if to be cutting out a smaller square from the one you have, but don't go all the way around. Put maple syrup and pecans in the middle, then lift each cut corner across the middle and over to the other side.

Crescents:

Roll into a 9" circle and cut into 4 quarters. For each quarter, place some caramel sauce along the long arc, and roll fat end to thin. Curve into a crescent shape.

Plaits:

Roll into a 6 x 11" square, and cut into four 3x5.5" rectangles. With each rectangle, lay it so it looks long and thin. along each side, make 4-5 evenly spaces cuts that go a third of the way in. Put maple syrup and pecans down the middle third, then fold in each strip alternately over the pecans to make a plait shape.

Lay your pastries out on a greased baking tray, and leave in a warm place for 30min-1hour until well risen.

Wash with beaten egg and bake at 220C for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Mix the icing sugar with a few teaspooons of water so it's pourable but thick, then drizzle over the pastries.

They are best eaten fresh, and can be frozen.