Au Revoir!

So, here we are.
I have had this blog for 3 months and to be honest it has been an excellent experiment.
However, all experiments come to an end as does this one.
I have created a new blog which is more convenient and that will have a baking focus.
I have still kept this blog and it will not go away but no more posts will be posted.
I have transferred some of my more recent posts to the new blog so they are available.
My new blog is: thefoodkid.wixsite.com/blog          
Thank you, as ever,

Book Review-Mary Berry Everyday

After the popularity of my last Mary Berry book review (my most read post ever) I decided to do another one (this one is actually of a new book though).

This book is an excellent handbook for the everyday cook. As the name suggests this book is for everyday use as it is full of practical, simple recipes for day-to-day life as well as those recipes for special occasions.
The book has a lengthy but useful introduction which gives some great advice on how to save time and plan your cooking around your day as well as meal plans, prepare ahead information for every recipe as well as Mary's everyday tips which give useful information about ingredients and methods.

This book has a bit of everything within it, be it baking, meat, vegetarian, salad, canapés or posh desserts its in here which makes it a real handbook for the house cook. This book shouldn't be the first you buy if you are learning to cook as the are some more complex recipes but there are still plenty for the less advanced cook.

The book has outstanding photography-as good as I have seen, there are lots of large print pictures that are step by step and of the finished product. Mary features heavily within the photography but lets be honest, Mary is probably the reason you bought the book so this can be excused.

Here is a sample recipe,

If you would like to see more sample recipes there are some on Amazon (see below) and on the daily mail website-just search Mary Berry Everyday Daily Mail


The book is available to buy on  Amazon for just £12 (less than 1/2 the RRP).
Rating:☆☆☆☆ (I would give it 4.5 but you cant get  a half star)

Artisan Bread Part 2-Guest Post-Seed and Grain Loaf

Hello Readers,
This is another artisan bread recipe sent to me by Nathan from my food and nutrition class. I have tasted this bread and its really good! If you cant get grain flour use wholemeal.

500g mixed grain flour
2tbsp seeds (your choice)
Extra seeds for sprinkling in top
1tsp salt
1 sachet fast action yeast
300ml hand hot water
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp clear honey

Tip flour, seeds,  yeast and salt in a large bowl. Mix the water, oil and honey in a jug-pour into the dry mix, stirring continuously to make a soft dough.
Use a little extra flour if it feels too sticky

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead for 5 minutes until dough no longer feels sticky.

Use a little more flour as needed

Oil a 1.2ltr loaf tin and put the dough in the tin, pressing in evenly. Cover carefully with a tea towel and leave to rise somewhere warm for one hour until it springs back when pressed with a finger.

Heat the oven to 200C/180Fan whilst the bread is rising.

Make 8 slashes along the top of the loaf, brush with water and sprinkle with seeds. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until risen and brown. Tip out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool.

Enjoy,

Artisan Bread Part 1-Paul Hollywood's Pain de Campagne

Hello Readers!
Today is a very special multi-part special from The Food Kid-artisan bread. No-it's not one recipe that is so long that it needs more than one post. I have lots of different artisan bread recipes to give you full of exciting and unique recipes from many corners of the globe. There is nothing better this time of year than a nice piece of warm bread covered in melted butter to warm you up.
This is a French bread recipe from Paul Hollywood's 100 great breads book. The name literally translates as country bread-this refers to the farmland a rural areas of France. This bread has been made by French farmers wives for 100s of years with whichever herbs and grains that were grown on their farm. Because of this there is lots of controversy as to which flours and herbs should go into it. Paul uses 400g white flour 100g rye flour. I used 350g white flour, 100g rye flour and 50g wholemeal flour-this works just as well. There is also controversy about the shape of the bread, I shaped mine (or at least tried to)like a wheat grain (I don't know the technical term) but you can shape yours however you like. Be warned, the bread is supposed to be rustic so it doesn't matter if it comes out a bit rough- it should have a good, irregular crust and a few blacker parts on the bread.

400g strong white flour
100g rye flour
10g salt
2 sachets dried yeast (14g)
50g softened butter
large bunch of fresh oregano destalked and chopped
300ml (approx.) water

Put all of the ingredients except the water into a bowl and slowly add the water and mix in with your hands until all of the flour on the sides of the bowl have been incorporated.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 6 minutes. Put the dough back into a bowl and leave for two hours.

Line a baking tray. Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and shape into a ball, then slightly flatten with your hands and dust with flour. Using a knife mark out a square shape on top of the dough , put onto the baking tray and leave to rise for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 220C/200fan/gas7. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Part 2 coming soon,

45 Minute Yeasted Bread Rolls

Last night I came home from school having tasted many different bread in a bread experiment I was determined to create a unique and quick bread recipe. I decided to make them rolls as this would reduce the cooking time but they can be baked as a loaf if you want. This recipe has quite a lot of sugar in it and not a lot of salt because the yeast needs to be fed quickly to create a good rise. These rolls have quite an open texture due to the small amount of proving time which is quite strange but it is still very good. This recipe is in cups (this is so that anybody can do it-even a little kid!). If you don't have cup measures then just use a small plastic cup or 1 cup equals 235ml so you could measure this in a jug. The recipe may need a little more water to form a dough-add more if you need.

1cup warm water
1/3 cup oil
2tbsp dried yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3 1/2 cups bread flour (if you don't have any just use plain flour)

Preheat oven to 220C/200fan.
Combine the water, oil, yeast and sugar in a bowl and leave for 15 minutes. This 15 minutes will allow the sugar to start feeding the yeast before it even gets into the flour so bubbles may start to form.
Mix 2 cups of flour, salt and egg into the yeast mixture and beat to combine.
Add the rest of the flour 1/2 a cup at a time.
Roll the dough into 12 balls and bake for 10 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

Paul Hollywood's Pitta Bread

I apologize for another flatbread recipe but this is all I have made since my last post as I have been very busy.
This is quite a sweet pitta bread similar to the ones made 100s of years ago in arabia. For large air pockets in your pittas you must make sure that the tray is very, very hot every time you go to cook pittas. If this means that you leave the tray in the oven for a few minutes between batches do this as this gives the best result.
These are great to fill with flavoured chicken and salad or kebabs.

Makes 9

500g strong white flour
10g salt
50g caster sugar
60ml olive oil
14g yeast
300ml water

Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix to form a dough.
Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes.
Put back into the bowl and rest the dough for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 240C/220 fan/gas 9 and put a baking tray inside to heat up.
Divide the dough into 9 100g pieces and roll into balls.
Using a rolling pin roll the pitta dough into 20cm ovals.
Leave to rest on the table for 5 minutes.
Place on a hot baking tray and bake for 5-10 minutes-try not to open the oven in this time.
The pitta breads will balloon then collape when removed from the oven-this creates air pockets.

Enjoy!

Easy Flatbread

Hello Readers,
I would like to apologise for my lack of postage this week however, schoolwork has had a surge this week and I am very busy but have still found time to squeeze in one small bake.

I must confess, these do not taste as good as yeasted bread however, you cant make yeasted bread in 15 minutes. These are great as a side to any curry if you only have 15 minutes and a few store cupboard basics.

Self raising flour
Water
Pinch salt
Herbs and spices

Add double the amount of flour to water in a bowl then add salt and your chosen herbs and spices.
Mix.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is very thin (I mean as thin as you can get it) then cut into your chosen shape.
Cook on/under a preheated grill/griddle pan on the highest heat until browned and crispy.

Enjoy,