Baltimore Beer Bread #BEDM

I made this a while a go and kept forgetting to put it up here. It’s a delicious beer and cheese pull apart bread baked by my friend Martine over at stuffed grapes. It’s the perfect bread to share with friends at a party but that’s if you can bear sharing it!

I don’t know much about beers to be honest, I don’t drink them. I do enjoy them in bread (I have a Guinness bread here) and in cakes (Guinness Brownies). However, when I saw this beer, I knew I had to use it in this bread as Martine has a ferret! This bread also uses Old Bay, a seasoning that Marylanders are mad about and that Martine very kindly sent to me to try. I love it, I use it on wedges, on corn, I’ve tried it on a few other things as well that hopefully I’ll get around to blogging about!

 

Baltimore Beer Bread

Recipe from stuffed grapes

Ingredients

For the dough

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup and 1/3 cup beer

2 1/2 cups of plain flour, as well as an additional 1/3 cup for dusting

2 tablespoons sugar

1 packet instant dry yeast

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs

Filling

3 tablespoons butter

1 heaped teaspoon of Old Bay spice (or you could use paprika or mustard powder)

1 1/2 heaping cups of grated sharp cheddar

Method

1. Make the dough first. Melt the butter over low heat, along with 1/4 cup of beer until butter is barely melted. Add the 1/3 cup of beer, take off heat and leave to cool, you want it warm to the touch.

2. Add 2 cups of flour along with rest of dry ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. With mixer on low, slowly add the cooled butter and beer mixture until dry ingredients have just moistened. Add one egg at a time and stir to combine. Add remaining plain flour and stir until just combined.

3. Replace mixer with dough hook and knead for 3-4 minutes, until the dough isn’t as lumpy. It will still be wet and sticky. You can do this by hand if you wish.

4. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with cling film and allow to rise for 1 hour, until it doubles is size.

5. While the dough is rising, you can prepare the filling. Grate the cheese with the large holes of a grater. Put into a container, add Old Bay and shake to cover the cheese. Melt your butter and set aside to cool.

6. Once dough is ready, place onto a well floured surface and roll into a rectangle 20”x12”. To prevent the dough from sticking, pull it up off surface and add more flour if needed. Brush the entire dough, edge to edge, with the melted butter. Cut into five 4″x12″ strips (pizza cutter is best for this).

7. Evenly sprinkle the buttered side of one of the strips with cheese. Then place another strip on top, butter side up, and repeat process until all strips are gone. With a serrated knife, slowly cut about 6 or 7 strips about 2″x4″.

8. Now for the tricky part. It’s best of prop your bread pan short side up and start stacking the pieces of dough in. It’s easier than doing it the other way, as the pieces might fall down if stacking them into the pan. Once filled, cover again with cling film and allow to rise again for 30-45 minutes.

9. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until nicely brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning it out of pan. Best eaten when warm from the oven, when cheese is still gooey, but it’s still delicious warm!

Baking with Pinterest UK at Loaf, Birmingham

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of opening up my email and seeing I had received one from Pinterest UK! It was an invitation to join them in a bread making event with Loaf in Birmingham. I was so excited to receive this invitation that I replied saying ‘Of course!’. The aim was to learn how to make sourdough bread, a course that Loaf offers as a weekend course but was condensed to a few hours for us. This meant that some of the work was done by Loaf or the morning Pinterest event for us in the afternoon, in order to get it all done on time. We started with the rye sourdough, which we made and then topped with seeds and let them rise in their tins for a few hours. Here was my end result.

 

While we waited for the rye sourdough to rise, we were shown some techniques by Tom and Andy, bakers at Loaf. We were shown 2 ways to knead bread and got to practice them by making a wheat sourdough. Tom then showed us how to shape that dough into different bread shapes, from a simple dinner roll to a baguette. We then got to make a pita bread (very simple and cooks in only a few minutes!) and got to eat our pita with hummus and fresh salad. We also got to make delicious pizzas using the dough too. We had quite the feast!

 

 

Lastly, we had a friendly competition to make a fougasse. We were allowed to pick from a number of herbs and spices to make our own combination. I went with poppy seeds, sesame seeds and cumin. You cut the bread into pretty patterns, add the flavourings and bake. I came second in the competition, I was very proud at how well mine looked! I even managed, somehow, to keep it in tact until I got home so I could show my boyfriend. You have no idea how hard that was as it looked so so good!

At the end of the day, we got to go home with our rye sourdough and some sourdough starter too. I haven’t had the chance to use them yet (as I have barely been at home these past few weeks!) but I think I might bust them out this weekend and make something nice!

Not sure if I’ll be able to get them as nice as these loaves though!

Thank you to Pinterest UK for inviting me and for all at Loaf for their expertise and patience. I had a wonderful time.

Paul Hollywood’s Soda Bread

So I’ve made soda bread before, you can see that if you click right here. But my boyfriend is a massive, MASSIVE fan of soda bread and isn’t the biggest fan of the only kind we can find in the supermarket here in Manchester. So I decided to give it another whirl, this time going with a different recipe just to mix it up. I decided to you Paul Hollywood’s, which I found on the BBC food website, as I have never used any of his recipes before and was curious to try one of them. And comparing to the Rachel Allen recipe I used before, this one uses less ingredients as well, which is perfect if you want to try making breads but are intimidated by it.

Soda Bread

Recipe from Paul Hollywood

Ingredients

250g wholemeal flour

250g plain white flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

420ml buttermilk

extra flour for dusting

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200° C/400° F

2. In a bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.

3. Add the buttermilk and mix to a stick dough.

4. Tip out dough out onto a floured surface and gently roll and fold a few times until it comes together. No not knead as it is not necessary.

5. Shape the dough into a ball and gently flatten the top. Score a deep cross into the dough, to divide it into quarters (Irish legend is that this step was originally done to ‘let the devil out’). Dust top lightly with flour.

6. Place onto a pre-lined or non-stick baking tray and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

As you can see, I didn’t quite score my bread deep enough, but I’ll know better next time. I think from certain angles it looks like a little bum! I felt this one turned out better though than the last recipe I used, it didn’t seem to fall apart as much when I cut it, the Rachel Allen one was quite crumbly. I really liked the crust that formed on this bread as well.

Perfect, easy recipe to help celebrate the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day!

Goats’ Cheese, Onion and Potato Bread with Rosemary

My aunt asked me to bake something savoury, as well as some sweet baked goods using goats’ cheese, to bring along to the St. Tola Organic Goats’ Cheese Open Day. I knew I wanted to do a bread so I searched for ideas and came across this bread. It’s a Delia recipe so I knew it would be a goodun’! And it was a big hit, I was surprised at how good it actually tasted. I’m not a big fan of goats’ cheese but even I loved this bread. It sounds a bit ‘busy’, like my Guinness bread I made, but it really does all work together. I doubled Delia’s recipe, planning on making two loaves, but I found that they were quite small so I decided to just make it one big loaf.

Goats’ Cheese, Onion and Potato Bread with Rosemary

Adapted from deliaonline.com

Ingredients

220g St. Tola Fresh Log cheese or St Tola Mature Log

8 scallions, finely chopped

2 medium red potatoes, weighing approx. 350g

2 rounded teaspoons fresh rosemary

350g self raising flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tsp salt

1 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if you wish or cut down by half, it does come through quite strong)

2 large eggs

4 tbsp milk

Method

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/375°F.

2. Cut any rind off cheese and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

3. Sift flour, salt and cayenne pepper into a bowl. Peel potatoes and grate into bowl, using the large, coarse holes.

4. Add the scallions, thyme and 2/3 cheese into the bowl. Using a knife, blend everything together.

5. Beat the egg and milk together in a cup and add to the bowl and using the knife, bring together as a loose, rough dough.

6. Tip dough out of bowl and shape into a round. Dot the remainder of the cheese into the surface of the bread. Dust with a little flour and add some more thyme.

7. Bake for about 50 minutes, until golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Remove and allow to cool.

Croque Madame Muffins

When I first saw the video for this Rachel Khoo recipe on the BBC Food YouTube channel, I was dying to make it. I even bought a deep muffin tin for it. But every time I got a hankering to make it, I was always out of a crucial ingredient (eggs one week, milk another week). I eventually made them a month ago, after returning from a very long day at the hospital where it was discovered my mother had had a heart attack (all is well now!). I definitely had to make them, to help distract me but also because I knew it would be the ultimate quick comfort food. So at midnight I set off and made these and I was NOT disappointed. Crunchy, hot, gooey deliciousness is what these muffins are! The perfect brunch or lunch time snack!

Croque Madame Muffins

Adapted from The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo

Makes 3

Ingredients

3 slices of white bread

1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

3 slices of ham or 40g ham cubed

3 small eggs

For cheese sauce

1/2 tbsp butter

1/2 tbsp plain flour

100ml milk

15g Mature cheddar cheese (or Parmesan or Gruyere), grated

Salt and Pepper

Method

1. First make the sauce. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, then add the flour and beat until you make a roux (a smooth paste). Take off the heat and gradually add milk, while still whisking. Add cheese, salt and pepper and whisk until melted and sauce has thickened. If it is too thick, add a small amount of milk and whisk to thin it out a bit.

2. Preheat oven to 180°C. Remove the crusts from the bread, then flatten with a rolling pin. Brush the melted butter onto both sides of the bread. Then use the bread to line the muffin tin, like it’s a cupcake wrapper (make sure it’s a muffin tin, so that it’s deep enough to hold everything).

3. Place a slice of ham into the bread in a similar way you placed the bread into the muffin tin. Or if using cubed ham, just line the bottom of the bread.

4. Next crack egg on top of the ham (if the egg is too large, remove some of the white first). Then put two tablespoons of cheese sauce on top of the egg and if you wish sprinkle with a bit more cheese on top. Bake for 15-20 mins, depending on how runny you like your eggs. Personally I find 17-18 is perfect as it’s beginning to harden but there’s still some softness there. Serve immediately.

YUM!

I’m looking forward to experimenting with these, I’m sure if you’d like to do a vegetarian version of this, some cooked spinach in place of ham might be nice. Or some lovely caramelised onions. Yum yum, the possibilities are endless!

Cheddar, Ham and Rosemary Guinness Bread

I’m not the biggest Guinness fan. I went to the Guinness Store House last year, tasted Guinness for the first time and this was my impression of it

However, it being almost St. Paddy’s Day, I keep seeing lovely looking recipes (sweet and savoury) which include Guinness as an ingredient. And I must admit I was curious about trying some. So I decided to go with a savoury bread and some chocolate brownies, which I will post later today (sneak peek here).

I got the idea for this recipe from theKitchn, where they posted a Cheddar and Chive Guinness Bread. Not having any chives on hand, I substituted in some rosemary and decided to amp it up a bit by adding in some ham (bacon would do too or you could omit it if you want). This is a very simple bread, easily prepared in 5 minutes!

Cheddar, Ham and Rosemary Guinness Bread

Adapted from theKitchn

Ingredients

370g (2 3/4 cups) plain flour

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

355ml (12 oz) Guinness

115g (4oz/1 cup) Cheddar cheese, grated

2 slices of ham, torn into pieces

Small handful of fresh rosemary, chopped finely

57g (1/4 cup) butter, melted

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190° C(375° F). Line loaf pan with parchment paper or grease with butter.

2. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a bowl and mix. Pour Guinness into bowl and mix until evenly distributed. Fold in 3/4 of the cheese, the rosemary and the ham.

3. Transfer into the pan. Pour the melted butter over the top evenly. Bake for 30 mins, then scatter the rest of the cheese on top and bake for a further 10-15 mins, until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Also to cool in pan for 5 mins before removing.

Next time I might leave out the rosemary and add in some caramelized onions. Needless to say, I am obsessed with this right now, it’s amazing!

Close up for that melty cheese and ham goodness!

Brown Soda Bread

My boyfriend had been bugging me for months to make him some soda bread. My Dad’s birthday Red Velvet cake, I had some buttermilk left over and decided to use it to make some bread. First stop was to Rachel Allen’s Bake book, one of my favourite baking books. Since I prefer brown scones to white ones, I decided to make brown soda bread. Here’s the recipe!

Brown Soda Bread
Adapted from  Rachel Allen’s Bake
Ingredients
225g (8oz) wholemeal flour
225g (8oz) plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
50g (2oz) sunflower, or golden linseeds (this isoptional)
25g (1oz) butter (this is optional)
1 egg
375-400ml Buttermilk

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F)
2. Sift together the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl. Mix in the seeds. Add the butter and rub into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg with the buttermilk and pour most, but not all, of the liquid into the flour mixture. Bring the flour and liquid together, either using a knife or better still, your fingers in the shape like a claw. Add more buttermilk if necessary, the dough should be soft but not sticky.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work counter. Bring together into a round shape, roughly 4cm deep. Mark a deep cross on the surface.
5. Place on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down to 200°C (400°F), and cook for 30 minutes more. When fully cooked, the loaf will sound slightly hollow when tapped on the base. Cool on a wire rack.
6. Enjoy! I usually just top with butter, but I hear jam is nice too!