Festive Chocolate Brownie

Here is a bake I have made especially for Christmas.  I took Will Torrent's recipe for the Mince Pie Brownie from his book Afternoon Tea at Home and added some of my special marmalade (made with Ave Maria Seville Oranges) to the brownie for a tang.  I topped it with a special chocolate topper.  This is made by pouring chocolate on a chocolate transfer sheet. I am going to make this for my family over Christmas.

I have entered in a Bako/ Callebaut competition so if you like this, please would you vote for me.  If you would like to vote for me, you just need to click on this voting link find my picture of the Festive Chocolate Brownie at the bottom of the page and vote

The prize is a hamper for lots of lovely Callebaut chocolate which would be great to experiment with




Many thanks!

French Patisserie at the Cookery School, London

I had an enjoyable morning at the The Cookery School in London on the French Patisserie Course.  We were taught by Ghalid Assyb an experienced baker who had previously worked with Ottolenghi,the London bakery.

 Ghalid gave tips throughout the morning and answered questions from those on the course.

Throughout the three hours we used dough that has been made earlier to shape croissants, pain au chocolat, pain au raisin and brioche.

Here I am shaping the croissants, rolling up firmly from a triangle shape:

Here I am with some of the bakes we made together in The Cookery School








We were able to sample our bakes at the end of the morning and they were delicious. We also made some dough which we took home.  I made croissants with mine and all my family enjoyed them.



The half day course went very quickly and was good for building my confidence with french patisserie.  I have been sent recipes to try again at home.

Thank you to the Cookery School for kindly inviting me to attend one of their courses

Thoughtful baking at the Thoughtful Bread Company

I entered a competition at Easter, run by Kenwood, to make hot cross buns.  The prize was for two people to attend a course at The Thoughtful Bread Company  I  entered a photo of my jumbo family sized hot cross bun and was really excited to win the prize as I always wanted to go on a course at The Thoughtful Bread Company, especially after having met Duncan, the owner of the bakery at The World Bread Awards.

People who have watched the BBC Victorian Bakers programme will know that Duncan was one of the bakers who went back in time to experience what it was like to bake in Victorian times.

There was a choice of two courses at The Thoughtful Bread Company: a beginners one and a sourdough one.  I chose the beginners one as I liked the range of bakes planned for the day. I was really pleased to go on this course this month.

I had a great day learning about lots of tips and techniques to improve my bread baking.  I really liked learning about the science of baking.  I was interested to learn about the action of yeast and how important it is to allow enough, and not too much time for proving to allow the yeast to continue to work in your loaf in the oven. I also gained confidence in the window pane test which tells you about the extent of gluten development

Duncan is very keen to use local produce, and support local traders when baking.  He has a bartering scheme where local residents can bring in their surplus of produce in exchange for bread.  We used local produce in two of our bakes.

Duncan also told us about the Real Bread Campaign, and how important it is to use natural ingredients in bread, and how using good ingredients, with slower fermentation times removes the need for using chemical bread improvers. I am a member of the Real Bread Campaign and I was featured in a recent edition of its magazine "True Loaf"

The cookery school is well equipped with NEFF ovens which were originally from the set of the Great British Bake Off.  It was great to think that we were baking in ovens used by GBBO stars.
 
The bakery is under the shop and we were lucky to get a behind the scenes tour to see where each bake is made, and we found out again how the ingredients used in all the bakes are carefully and thoughtfully chosen: organic, local, sustainable ingredients are important.



The shop was amazing and sold unique products.  We had delicious foods throughout the day including an almond croissant along with lovely coffee to start the day with, an amazing spread of local meats, cheeses, pickles and bread for lunch and tasty cakes for afternoon tea.  If you come on a course do not book dinner as you will be full by the end of the day.

During the day we made a range of bakes including a white loaf, which we shaped and proved in a bowl; savoury bread whirls packed with local cheese and vegetables, savoury soda muffins and panettone.  We made the bread by hand. We used the Kenwood stand mixers for the panettone which was an enriched dough and a much stickier mixture.

 I was able to put my shaping technique to practice that I had learnt at Swifts Bakery, this is so important to shape the bread properly to allow it to take a good shape.

We left with lots of baking to share with our family, a goodie bag including Duncan's book packed with brilliant recipes, a couche cloth, dough scraper, blades, various discount vouchers,and a massive bag of  Shipton Mill flour each.

My family enjoyed the baking I took home and they especially loved the pannetone which I will be baking for Christmas.

The day was a really enjoyable day, and I was really pleased to learn lots of things to help to improve my baking.  Thank you to Duncan, the staff at the Thoughtful Bread Company and to Kenwood for a great opportunity.

An amazing October

Craft Bakers and Butchers Extravaganza:

I am the youngest member of the Craft Bakers Association.  I joined two years ago after I read one of their leaflets in my goody bag from The World Bread Awards.

I like to follow what is happening in bakeries across the country.  I have been fortunate to visit a few bakeries which are members of the Craft Bakers Association.  This had included visits to Dunn's Bakery in London and Slattery's in London.

I was very excited when I saw that there was a CBA event in Harrogate that I could attend and was really pleased that I would be able to do one of the demonstrations.

Because I love making marmalade, as well as cakes and bread,I decided to demonstrate a marmalade cake with my own special homemade marmalade made from Ave Maria organic sevilles.  I talked through my process of making marmalade as I made my cake.  I was really pleased as lots of people came along to my demonstration including a number of other members of the Craft Bakers Association and the Worshipful Company of Bakers.  I handed out samples of my marmalade, and my marmalade cake.  I added some California Walnuts to my bake as I had been given some that morning and thought they added a nice texture to my cake.

I was really pleased and surprised to be presented with a copy of the Craft Bakers Association Book of Breadmaking" which will be really useful to work through.  George Fuller, Chair of the association really encouraged me and said that the Craft Bakers Association would be there to help me.

Afterwards I had a chat with John Foster MBE who told me lots of interesting things about bread and who has invited me to his bakery.

I talked to lots of other people who have offered opportunities to visit their bakeries.  I will organise this during the next year in my holidays.  I love to see how different bakeries work and the processes they use in baking.

The World Bread Awards:

I entered the World Bread Awards for the third time. I created three loaves of bread, A Fruit and Nut Challah bread with Persian spices, Scrumptious Saffron bread and a Goat's Cheese and Herb Cornbread.  I adapted a basic cornbread loaf for my cornbread recipe, I adapted a challah bread recipe with my own Persian twist - and used Edd Kimber's saffron bread rolls recipe to make my own creation. I got some great feedback for my breads and was complimented on the creativity, elegance and attractiveness of my loaves. I got runner up this year.

 At the awards ceremony it was great to catch up with a lot of people who have helped me with my baking, and others who have offered further opportunities to help me. I'm hoping to encourage more childrens entries next year.

 A day with John Swift:

Yesterday I spent a day in Swifts Bakery in Clee Hill, Shropshire. John Swift starred on the brilliant programme "Victorian Bakers" and he is a fifth generation baker.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning a different perspective to baking bread. John taught me how to shape which I have been struggling with ever since day one. I shaped lots of different things including butter buns, chelsea buns and a variety of loaves. I was really impressed with how much bread is made in the bakery each day.

Thankyou so much to everyone at Swifts for making such a great day for me!

Getting ready for the World Bread Awards

I love taking part in the World Bread Awards as I love trying experimenting with new breads and getting expert feedback on them.  I have fantastic news....I am a finalist again so will be off to the awards ceremony to find out what the judges made of my bread.

Here are the breads I made:

1.  Goats Cheese and herb cornbread

I saw cornbread for the first time at a food festival.  I loved the colour and flavour and so decided to put my twist on a basic recipe I found on the internet.  I added local smoked goats cheese, and my own home grown herbs.  I decided to use a 6-stranded plait which I learnt from following YouTube.  I found the plait easy to do with the video.

2.  Fruit and Nut Challah with Persian Flavours

I have been inspired by Persian Flavours after trying some white chocolate with Persian spices at Paul A Young Chocolatiers.  I love the combination of pistachio and rose as it looks pretty and tastes good.  I mixed up my own Persian Spice mix by combining lots of different spices.  It was difficult to grind the rose petals so I added a little granulated sugar and it blended down.  I tried this bread several times, adding different amounts of spice and fruit.  I also tried rings and straight plaits. The bread has a nice combination of flavours and textures.

3.  Saint Lucia Saffron Buns

I have always wanted to bake with saffron, and decided to use a Edd Kimber recipe for St Lucia Saffron Buns .  Instead of doing single buns, I decided to shape them into a ring.  I also added a little cardamon for extra flavour.  The smell of the bread was amazing, and I was pleased with the colour of the buns.

I had lots of fun trying out these new shapes and flavours.  I am looking forward to hearing what the judges think of them.

This month I am very excited to feature in the Real Bread Campaign's True Loaf publication.  Here is my article.  You can read the whole magazine when you join the Real Bread Campaign and keep up to date with news about the Real Bread Campaign 

Cake and Chocolate Fun at Squires Kitchen Exhibition

I arrived on Saturday, to take in my entry for the Children's cupcake category.  As I was one of the first 100 arrivals, I was given a Squires Kitchen goody bag with lots of useful equipment in it. 

On the way in I was really impressed with the other entries that were already displayed, especially the wedding cakes that looked like works of art. While I was looking around, I was pleased to meet Charlotte White who was busy taking photos of the cakes.  To see some of these amazing creations follow this link to her blog on Restoration Cake.  Also on her website there are lots of nice recipes and we definitely recommend the vegan chocolate cupcake one!

My cupcake entry was The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf.  It took me three days to make the models, fitting it around my school and homework was tricky but I was pleased with the result. 

I had a little look around the exhibition and then met Mark Tilling and talked about different things I had been involved in over the last few months.

I spent some time looking at the programme and decided to go to all Mark's talks and also Carlo Lischetti talks. Carlo's models were amazing as he added so much expression to the faces.

I really liked Mark's talks as he took us through his demonstrations step by step and explained things about chocolate as he was demonstrating. I learnt how to use chocolate transfer sheets to make lovely chocolate pots, how to colour chocolate and use it for Easter eggs, how to make chocolate flowers and mirror glaze cakes.  I can't wait to try some of these things. I am looking forward to buying Mark's book called Mastering Chocolate that is coming out soon and will work my way through the recipes.  Before we left we bought some chocolate moulds and colour powders ready to make some chocolate Easter Eggs at home.

Photo by Squires Kitchen

On Sunday morning I was really pleased to find out that I had won my section of the children's category and had been awarded "Gold".  Later when I met the judges: Mark Tilling and Jan Clement-May, they said that they really liked my cakes, and especially all the added detail like the trowel, spider and axe.  I also picked up some tips on how to add character to facial expressions.  At the prize giving I was presented with my certificates and a book, sugarpaste and colour pastes which will all be really useful.

I really enjoyed my first visit to the Squires Kitchen Exhibition and hope to come back another year to learn even more skills and be inspired by some brilliant sugarcraft.

Chef success

I have taken part in lots of competitions with bakes and preserves I have made at home and I decided to take a step into the chef's world in January with not only one competition but four in one month!

First I took part in the local finals of the Springboard Future Chef competition in Peterborough.  I had to cook a two course meal in 90 minutes.  It was tricky cooking in a different kitchen to my own.  The judges were really pleased with my dishes and said that I was very brave as I had aimed to do a lot in my 90 minutes.  They said I was very creative with the taste of my dishes and one said "there needs to be more Christophers in the world".  I was also encouraged to try to be a little more organised in the kitchen, as there were marks for this too.  I was pleased to be runner up.

My second competition was at the school heat of the Rotary Young Chef Competition.  I cooked 3 dishes in 2 hours.  I tried hard to remember what the judges said before, being much more organised.  Nearly everything ran to plan and I changed the presentation of my main course to make it look more creative.  I was really happy at the end to be chosen as winner of the school heat and will be representing my school at the next stage of the competition.


The third competition of the month was amazing.  It was the Teflon Diamond Standard Awards at Waitrose Cookery School.  There were 1500 entries for this competition so I was really pleased to be chosen as a national finalist.  It was a great opportunity to put all my new skills into practice.  As I love to make sausage plaits, I decided to do my own twist on a sausage plait.  I had tasted a special pasty at Gunn's Bakery in Bedford that had a sweet and savoury end.  I decided to make my sausage plait with a sweet and savoury end.  I used sausage, chestnuts, bacon and my own cranberry sauce at one end, and at the sweet end I used my own mincemeat and apples.  I even went to our local butchers a few days before and made the sausage meat to go in the plait.


When we arrived, we were given a full set of chef's whites and soon got set up.  There were children aged 13-16 years from all across the country and all were doing very different bakes.  It was really busy in the kitchen as there were lots of children in the same cooking area, but we all had own workstation and it was very well equipped. 

Everything went to plan with my bake.  The timing was good and the plait was well baked underneath.  I even had chance to pipe some brandy sauce and make a sugarcraft robin to decorate the side of the bake.  I was pleased with the robin as I had never made one before but thought it would look fun.  Throughout the cooking I tried really hard again to be organised and at the end was praised for this, Lesley Waters also said that I scored very high for the "skills" section.  The judges really liked how I had flavoured the sausages and commented on my cranberry and port sauce.

When we had finished cooking we were able to watch a lovely food demonstration led by Lesley Waters who was the head judge of the competition.  She said the standard of the dishes were very high and looking at the dishes, it was amazing to see what everyone had done.

The winners and runners up were presented with their prizes and all the other national finalists received certificates and a goody bag with bakeware in it.  I am really looking forward to putting it to good use.  It was a really good day and I learnt lots again.

My final competition was lots of fun.  It was a competition called Ready Steady Cook.  I was in a team representing my scout group.  We had to cook three courses on a hob top.  Two of the recipes were what I had made up myself.  We did panfried mushrooms as a starter, then coconut chicken curry as a main course, with flatbread and then a trifle for dessert.  We got very good feedback and an excellent score which meant we were able to bring the trophy home for our scout group.  I really enjoyed working as part of a team, and we will be cooking the dishes again at our next scout camp!