Tag: baking

Cakes & Bakes: Paul Welburn’s black treacle soda bread

Paul Welburn's black treacle soda bread

This black treacle soda bread is like a cross between malt loaf and parkin.

Black treacle dry & wet ingredients

It’s the kind of soda bread that really suits the autumn; I could imagine eating it… in a pre-Covid world… at a bonfire firework display in the cold outdoors. It’s filling, warming, sweet and comforting.

Black treacle soda bread dough in a baking tin

As usual, I had to halve the recipe as it’s just the two of us. Personally, next time, I’d use about half the quantity of treacle and a tad less salt too… but that’s just me.

Black treacle soda bread cooling on a wire rack

In the original recipe, the bread was made to accompany gin and tonic-cured salmon. Not something I’d eat, but what to eat it with instead? I’ve had it smeared with butter however, I’d imagine it would also be good with smoked or maple bacon.

Click here or on the image below to save this black treacle soda bread recipe to Pinterest

Black treacle soda bread recipe

Black treacle soda bread
Serves 8
Cook Time
40 min
Cook Time
40 min
Ingredients
  1. 600g wholemeal flour
  2. 350g jumbo rolled oats
  3. 25g salt
  4. ½tsp baking powder
  5. 1½tsp bicarbonate of soda
  6. 375g black treacle
  7. 600ml buttermilkPaul Welburn's black treacle soda bread ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 175°C/350ºF/Gas mark 4
  2. Mix all of the ingredients except the buttermilk in a mixer until just incorporated, it will be quite wet
  3. Add the buttermilk and mix well
  4. Transfer to a shallow tin and bake for 35-40 minutes
  5. Allow to cool on a wire rack
Notes
  1. I used an equal quantity of whole-milk yoghurt instead of the buttermilk. You can also make your own buttermilk by stirring 2 tablespoons lemon juice into 600ml/20 fl oz whole milk
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H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies

Double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies

This recipe for double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies comes from a brand new cook book by James Beard Award nominee, Jason Licker, entitled Baking With Licker: Home Baking With Asian Accents.

One of the things that drew me to the recipe – on top of the fact it contains 2 types of chocolate and strong coffee – was the way the recipe ingredients are all given in grams. So many American recipes use cups; what’s a cup of butter or a cup of peanut butter? It can be a messy and inaccurate method of measurement.

Dry ingredients Eggs, sugar and butter

Saying that, the grams were also my downfall in the making of the cookies. I decided that 30 grams of egg coresponded to 3 eggs – so that’s how many I used. In fact, it’s one, medium-size egg!

That’s why, after chilling the cookie dough in the fridge for many an hour, there was no way I’d be able to roll 50g chunks (more like ‘blobs’) between my palms! Nevertheless, other than spreading a WHOLE lot on the baking sheet, they were absolutely delicious.

Tray of double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookie dough portions

Vietnam is currently the largest producer of Robusta coffee and the second largest producer of coffee in the world. The coffee produced in the country is rich roast with chocolaty tones – so perfect for teaming with dark and white chocolate. If you can’t find it, full-bodied espresso beans will be a good swap; just set your coffee grinder to the finest setting.

Click here or on the image below to save this double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies recipe to Pinterest

Double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies recipe

Double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies
Yields 12
Cook Time
15 min
Cook Time
15 min
Ingredients
  1. 65g/2⅓oz butter
  2. 100g/3½oz sugar
  3. 110g/3⅔oz dark brown sugar
  4. 50g/1¾oz egg (1 medium egg)
  5. 3g/½tsp bicarbonate of soda
  6. 2.5g/½tsp salt
  7. 40g cocoa powder
  8. 115g plain flour
  9. 5g Vietnamese coffee, ground into a fine powder (I used finely ground Espresso beans)
  10. 125g white chocolateDouble chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies
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Instructions
  1. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar for 10 minutes until the mixture is light and creamy. Every few minutes, use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure a uniform mixture
  2. Add the eggs into the butter and sugar mixture in three increments. Once again, scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure a uniform mixture
  3. Add the bicarbonate of soda,salt, cocoa powder, plain flour and Vietnamese coffee slowly, so that you gradually incorporate these dry ingredients until they are just combined into the mixture. Finally, scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure a uniform mixture
  4. Mix in the white chocolate chips and then remove the cookie dough from the stand mixer. Place the dough in a medium-size bowl and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight
  5. Preheat the oven to 185ºC/365ºF/Gas mark 5
  6. When you are ready to bake, weigh out 50g chunks of dough and roll them into balls. Place them on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and make sure you leave some room for the cookies to spread out. Push the balls down with your palm evenly until they are half the original height of the balls
  7. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Half way through, turn the tray from back to front so they are evenly baked. You will know the cookies are done when the edges are set, but the centre is still soft
  8. Remove the cookies from the oven and either transfer to a wire rack or allow them to completely cool on the cookie sheet
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Adapted from Baking With Licker: Home Baking With Asian Accents
Adapted from Baking With Licker: Home Baking With Asian Accents
H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Sultana loaf cake

Sliced sultana loaf cake

I’ve made a fair few tea loaf cakes over the years, but Justin has voted this sultana loaf cake the best. I’d planned to cook a completely different cake, but at the last minute realised I didn’t have all the necessary ingredients. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise!

Pouring golden syrup into cake batter

The sultana cake consists of 8 simple ingredients that you should already have in your fridge and kitchen cupboard.

Sultana loaf cake batter in lined loaf tin

It’s a doddle to prepare; simply cream the butter & sugar, add everything else except the milk, which you add at the end to thin the batter to just the right consistency. I’d imagine this cake would be equally fantastic if you used glacé cherries instead of sultanas… I just may try that next week.

Click here or on the image below to save this sultana loaf cake recipe

Sultana loaf cake recipe

Sultana loaf cake
Serves 8
Cook Time
1 hr
Cook Time
1 hr
Ingredients
  1. 115g/4oz butter, softened
  2. 115g/4oz of caster sugar
  3. 3 eggs
  4. 2 tbsps golden syrup
  5. 285g/10oz of self-raising flour
  6. 170g/6oz sultanas
  7. Itsp almond essence
  8. 140ml/5fl oz/¼pint of milkSultana loaf cake ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Cream butter and sugar
  2. Add eggs and golden syrup and beat
  3. Stir in self-raising flour, sultanas and almond essence
  4. Add the milk and mix to a dropping consistency
  5. Top with a sprinkling of granulated sugar then bake for around 1 hour at 175ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4
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Adapted from Remembering the Old Walys
Adapted from Remembering the Old Walys
H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Home-made hops bread

Sliced hops bread

When I was young, back in the early 1970s, there was a little bakery located across the road from our house. They baked their bread in a wood fired oven – half a century before this method became trendy. The bakery made the most fantastic hops bread – a queue would build up, just before they opened their doors – people with their paper bags in hand – to buy fresh, hot hops bread.

yeast mixture hops dough ingredients in a mixing bowl

Hops bread has been on my ‘to bake’ list for a long time; I just needed to find the right recipe. When I was back in Trinidad last year, one of my friends shared her family’s recipe. The recipe calls for ‘shortening’ which, over there, would probably mean Prize or Cookeen – things I have no hope of getting my hands on in rural Wales. I swapped it for plain old butter.

Hops bread dough balls on a baking tray Proved hops bread dough balls on a baking tray

I’ve made two batches of hops bread so far, but I’m yet to master the process. I’m still to duplicate that perfect, golden brown crusty domed top with a soft pull-apart centre that’s similar to Hokkaido milk bread. Practice makes perfect!

Hops bread rolls cooling on a wire rack

Enjoy them plain – spread with butter, with slices or grated mounds of strong cheddar or stuffed with buljol. I filled my first one with a delicious crispy fried tofu slice… I’ll be sharing that particular recipe next week!

Click here or on the image below to save this hops bread recipe to Pinterest

Home-made hops bread recipe

Home-made hops bread
Yields 20
Cook Time
20 min
Cook Time
20 min
Ingredients
  1. 1tbsp/9g instant yeast
  2. 600ml/20fl oz warm water
  3. 1kg/2.2lbs plain flour
  4. 60g/4oz butter/margarine/shortening
  5. 1¼tsp salt
  6. 2tbsps granulated sugar (you can use brown sugar)
  7. Hops bread ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Activate the yeast in warm water and 1tsp of the sugar (approx. 10 minutes) before adding mixture to other ingredients
  2. Combine all ingredients in bowl
  3. Knead to a soft dough for about 5 mins
  4. Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise for about 1 hour
  5. Punch down and divide into 85g/3oz balls
  6. Place on greased sheet and let rise for another 35 mins
  7. Heat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/Gas mark 7 and bake for 15-20 mins
Notes
  1. Place a pan in oven while it is heating and throw some ice cubes to create steam when trays are placed in the oven
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