Fiction, Food, Faith and everything in-between

A new series of The Great British Bake Off starts this evening. Yay!  And so I made Chocolate Babka to celebrate the new series. This was actually a technical challenge from an earlier series. I am not too sure this would pass the Paul Hollywood test but he won't be tasting it 😃.  The recipe can be found on the Bake Off website here https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/paul-hollywood-chocolate-babka/

The best thing about cooking or baking is when you try something for the first time and find out that you can do it.  I love Cinnamon rolls and I found a recipe on the BBC cooking website. They tasted lovely and I had enough to stash in the freezer. Breakfast sorted. These Moroccan Pasties are from one of my Paul Hollywood books. The entire house smells divine. I love the smell of baking in the house. It just says 'comfort' and 'welcome home.

I decided to make Rainbow Bagels. I saw these being baked on the  2020 Great British Bake Off. It was fun but very time consuming. After mixing up the dough, you then need to separate the dough into five portions and add food colouring to each portion. The food colouring I bought didn't really reflect what was described. Violet food colouring came out as black, yellow as orange etc but I still managed to produce some brightly coloured pastry. You then need to immerse the risen bagels in boiling water and bicarbonate of soda. Apparently this helps form a crust and gives the bagels a shine. I am not sure this worked for me because the bagels lost their brightness after baking. Although they still had their colour. It was fun to bake. At the moment I bake because it is fun and a good hobby. I like to be creative in this way because I am a very cerebral person. I did enjoy messing about with the food colouring and although they were not bright, they ...

I haven't baked for a couple of weeks. My fridge - freezer broke down and it took about 8 days for the new one to be delivered. It was very tiresome but thankfully my neighbours rescued my fish and meat. I am now making up for lost time. I invested in a bigger fridge-freezer so that I can bake and freeze some of my bread. Today I made a Brioche with Brie. I have made Brioche before but I decided to try it with Brie this time. Paul Hollywood has a couple of different recipes for Brioche with Brie so I used the one in his How To Bake book. This is the best part of the process when the dough is ready for shaping. I made the dough yesterday and it spent the night in the fridge. Brioche dough is buttery and sticky if it gets too warm. In the baking tray and ready to prove for a couple of hours. The rolls are proved and now risen. I decided to sprinkle sesame seeds on one loaf. I love it when bread rises. I feel as if it is alive with potential! ...

According to https://www.cuisinefiend.com/643/kubaneh 'Kubaneh is Yemeni Jewish bread which tastes almost like croissants.......Jewish breads are usually excellent but kubaneh, traditionally baked slowly overnight by Yemenite Jews, is outstanding. And the article is right! This is such a beautiful bread. It simply melts on the tongue. The Nigella seeds give the bread a savory flavour but the best part is that this bread is just so deliciously buttery.  This bread is traditionally baked overnight and eaten on the Sabbath. I can see why. It is simply a bread from heaven for sharing with others.

There is something so comforting about teacakes. I like eating them for breakfast but they are really great at anytime. Today I decided to tackle the teacake recipe in my Paul Hollywood How to Bake book.  I think this recipe is very timely. Today is rainy, damp and a bit chilly. The sun was here quite briefly today but the sky has been overcast and dull all day. The heavens opened just as my teacakes finished baking. Very timely for a nice cup of tea.  It is also cozy and comforting because my home smells of baking, of cinnamon and warmth. I now know what to do on rainy days. Bake teacakes!

This was great fun to make. The Brioche tastes lovely and buttery although it has a slight crust.  I wanted it to be soft and bouncy on the outside instead of crusty but this hasn't affected the tasts. It tastes wonderful. I gave my son a little to taste and a few minutes later he put the kettle on because it is the kind of bread that needs a nice cup of tea. I am going to try and make Brioche with different flavours. Paul Hollywood (the baking maestro has a recipie for Brioche with Brie and Brie is my favourite cheese so this is a match made in heave for me. It is such good fun to try out different recipes. Last week I made a Honey and Saffron loaf. Apparently Saffron is more expensive than gold. I have used Saffron in tagines, stews, fish and Moroccan cookery and now also in bread. It certainly gave the bread an amazing flavour. Honey and Saffron Loaf Paul Hollywood's book - How to Bake. It has been an excellent investmen for me. This is the picture sh...