New Projects

I'm waiting for the sample boxes so that I can trial the crackers for Jo. The idea is to seal them in various containers and see how long they keep fresh for. Hopefully at least a week before they start to soften, that would give enough time to sell and use them. I have other flavour ideas as well, and a few new products to try.

I want to try and market the Sourdough Croutons that I make for myself, flavoured with Oil and Balsamic, they are great in soup, or on a salad, lets see if anyone else agrees.

Once the festivities have calmed down a bit, I can get started, my next delivery to Oats in in a fortnight, and I've got an extra order of rolls to go with it. I suspect the time till then will fly by.

A well Deserved Break

That's it, I've just sent out my last order of the year, and now I'm doing nothing till Jan 7th 2014!

Unfortunately, it's not entirely true, because I have  to make some crackers and test how long they keep fresh for, so that I can offer them for sale.
 
And I have to make Saffron Buns for Amy, but they are things I want to do, as opposed to things I HAVE to do.

So it only remains to wish you all a very Happy Yule, or Christmas whichever is appropriate, and Good Fortune for 2014.

See you next year.

Another Triumph.

You will remember I made the Crackers for the Cheese and wine evening. They asked for something that had a flavour, but not too much to drown the taste of the cheese. Well I did Rye and mixed Seed crackers, and got feedback this morning. I repeat the email here cos I'm rather pleased with it.


Morning Richard,

The feedback from the cheese & wine evening was "Where can I buy these crackers?"

Everybody loved them & want me to sell them. Any chance you could put them in little cellophane bags with a tag? The ones you made on Thursday are in an air tight box & still crisp. Only need to find out about best before dates & you could be on to something.

Thank you so much for meeting the brief of crispy crackers with flavour but not overpowering. Perfect.

Jo
So now I have to start looking for a bag to put them in, and investigate how long they stay crisp.

In other news, I made a Pepper and Oregano Tear and Share bread for our Bolognese tonight. Basically I made the dough as usual, and let it prove. But instead of making a Focaccia or rolls I made doughballs and put them in a springform tin.

After an hour they had risen well, so I baked for 40 minutes,

 
and this was the result.

Very nice to mop up sauce, and even better with a bit of Balsamic drizzled on it first.

Crackers (Part 2)

I made 5 batches of the Rye and Seed Crackers this morning, well actually I made 6, but I dropped one lot on the floor getting it out of the oven. Anyway they will make good Dog Biscuits!

 

Jo was pleased with them, hopefully the Cheese and Wine will be a success.

Mincemeat Teacakes Part 2

You might recall, I made these festive teacakes at least 5 times, in an effort to get them right before I took them round as samples.

I got an order from Millie and proceeded to make 30.

Unfortunately, I reckoned without the mincemeat problem.

In my samples I used a certain type of mincemeat, but to make 30, I had to buy a bigger container of the same type. And because I was hoping for repeat orders, I brought several tubs! I thought that it would be the same stuff but it was twice as runny. Hence the whole thing turned into a disaster, the dough was too wet and the teacakes never really recovered. Fortunately the taste was still good, so the customer took them, and reported good sales and repeat purchases, but to me it just didn't feel right.

I hoped to get a second order, so that I could prove to Millie and to ME that I could do what I had done in the samples, and I did get the chance.

This time I strained the mincemeat through a sieve for 24 hours (don't laugh) to get rid of the excess moisture, upped the yeast and cut down on the water.

And here they are, I think they are better, the taste is the same, now we will see what Millie thinks,  just as long as she doesn't want the misshapes back.

Stop Press; Millie and Me has just won another award, its good to be a part of a successful business. Check it out here.

http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/Small-Business-Saturday-Winners-Announced/story-20259102-detail/story.html

Crackers!

No that's not me (although it's been said) this time, but a request from my friends at the West Country Deli, for a suitable accompaniment for their fine cheeses at a Cheese and Wine evening.

I have made crispbreads before, with varying sucess, but I reckon this is a perfect chance to present my Rye and Seed Crackers to the public.

Basically, Its a mixture of Seeds and Rye flour, bound up with Oil, Honey and Water.

Seeds

Dough

 

Rolled and Cut

Baked

 

Close up

40 Minutes in the oven and they were snapping well, so I left them out to cool and crisp up.

Jo was pleased with the result, and I now have an order for next week!!!

Sourdough (Again) and Croutons.

I know I keep on about it, but I love Sourdough, in all its frustrating glory. From the early days, when I just couldn't master it, to my present uneasy truce with the stuff it is a mighty fine loaf, when you get it right. And for the rest, well there's always croutons!

Actually that's not quite true, after a week or so the quality does start to deteriorate, and toast or croutons are a good way to avoid it going to waste. Especially at this time of year, croutons are a perfect accompaniment to soup.

I know I have said this before, but I cannot understand how I can make bread that will be perfectly edible after a week, where supermarket bread (with all its additives) will be off after a couple of days.

So I had a little left from last weeks loaf, and cut it into cubes,

These I soaked with Balsamic Vinegar, then tossed in Olive Oil. They went into a hot oven until crisp and dark on the outside (about 25 minutes) turning and shaking a couple if times.
About 5 minutes before you think they are done, lift one out and let it cool, if it crisps up they are ready.

Meanwhile I started this weeks loaf. I was talking to a lovely lady at Crux Crafts last week, and we discussed how to make good sourdough, so this is partly for her, and for anyone else who is interested.

I had refreshed my starters yesterday, so had a lot of active ferment ready. This is crucial, you need a good bubbly ferment before starting, if you normally keep them in the fridge, leave them out for a few hours to warm and get active before you refresh them. Then give them a while to bubble before you make dough.

I used 400g of each (Rye and Spelt), meaning at 100% hydration I had 400g of flour and the same of water.

Now for the science bit, at 80% hydration for the loaf, I need 80g of water for every 100g of flour. My casserole makes a 1.5kg loaf with ease, so I will use a total of 750g flour. This at 80% means a total of 600g water.

As I already have 400g of each, I need 350g flour and 200g water.

Salt at 2% comes in at 15g.

If your with me so far, put all these in a bowl, and mix till all the water is absorbed. You may think its very wet but don't worry, there is no kneading and the water will go when its cooked.

 You can see the difference between starters, both at 100%, the spelt is very moist, and the rye sits on top.

When its all mixed  cover and leave for at least 12 hours.

Note the level of the mixture.

See how its risen.

Next morning, turn it out onto your mixing surface and stretch and fold it a few times, try not to use too much extra flour.

Put your oven on, with the casserole inside, to maximum, and rest the dough in a well floured banneton, don't worry about the shape, it will sort itself out in the oven.

After about 30 minutes, you will see that the dough has risen slightly, now carefully put it in the casserole and put the lid back on, return it to the oven for 40 minutes.

It should look like this, leave the lid off and return it for 20 minutes.

Take it out and tap it, if it sounds hollow its done. I like to test the internal temperature with a probe, if its over 95 degrees C it means the gluten has set and its done.

Leave it to cool, then adopt a smug grin, because you now have tasty bread for a week.

Just how we like it.

Part 2

So here's the ingredients list for Sally's order.

2.75 kg Organic White Flour,
0.75kg Organic Wholemeal Flour,
800g Organic Mincemeat,
200g Organic Butter, 
100g Organic Sugar,
Yeast and Salt.

And out of that, 20 White Rolls, 20 Wholemeal Rolls and 40 Teacakes.

White Rolls ready

 

Teacakes ready

White Rolls done

 

Wholemeal Rolls Done



Teacakes Done



Up Close

Now I need a rest, and so does the oven, there's just time to deliver them and it's off to visit the Xmas market and get into the festive spirit.

The Big Push

Friday 22nd November will go down in my memory as the first day day of the Mincemeat Tea-cake saga. Largely because over the next 24 hours, I'm making a total of 65 of the little blighters, 40 with Organic White Flour for Oats on Saturday; and 25 with Apple and Cinnamon flour for Millie today. Of course if they are popular, I will be doing it all again, (and again.....maybe)

Also I'm making 15 Turkey, Stuffing and Cranberry Spiral Rolls, and 15 Festive Biscuits for Millie today. And I might try my hand at "Bays" Beer Bread, which is what it says, bread made with "Bays" Beer, a local brew and very nice.

And not forgetting the 40 Organic Rolls for Brixham Does Care,(a very worthwhile Charity in Brixham) that Sally is selling with Soup at a Fair trade Cafe during the Brixham Xmas market. I will do those on Saturday with the tea-cakes.

I think I've got those details right, now on to the prep. Here are the main ingredients for Millie:-

1.5 kg Apple and Cinnamon Flour, 450g Mincemeat, Butter and Sugar. Egg to glaze
1kg White Flour, Cooked Turkey, Cooked Stuffing and Dried Cranberries,
300g Plain Flour for the biscuits, with 150g Mincemeat. butter sugar eggs etc
And of course the usual Yeast, Salt Water etc.
      
So Prompt on Friday morning, I warmed up the mixer, got my pinny on and began;

It's all abut the rising time, especially for the tea-cakes, as the addition of moist Mincemeat alters the dough. I give it a rise first before adding the Mincemeat when I knock it back. At least that way the dough has had a chance to develop.

I don't usually do 1.5 kilos of dough at once, so the mixer was wheezing a bit at the end,

but I spoke nicely to it and the result was fine, I just gave it a bit of a fold by hand and put it in to prove.

Then I made a kilo of white dough and put that in as well.
Now its just a case of waiting to see if it rises, I know it will, but there's always that nagging doubt.

Meanwhile I have to sort out the fillings,

Turkey and Stuffing

 

Mincemeat

and get making,

The Risen Dough

Mixing in

Result

I made a few extra for samples and they tasted just fine.

Next up the Turkey Rolls, You've seen these babies before so not too many photos, just a few 'before' ones,

Needless to say, they were well received.

And the Cookies,

Next the Beer Bread, a first for me, but similar to Soda Bread,
the batter goes in a loaf tin,

and 45 minutes later,

I made it with Coarse Sea Salt, so it had the odd crystal for a crunch, and the taste of solid Beer!

Sophie was pleased with her order, I will pop in tomorrow to see how they went.
Now I'm having a rest before tomorrow mornings effort.