Croissants: Near Perfection

About  month ago I wrote about an attempt to make croissants and pain au chocolat. They tasted good but were difficult to shape and too brown.  I tried again with lower gluten flour and a cooler oven.  The outside of the croissants were really flakey whilst the inside had a real honeycomb texture.  They tasted lovely, although my oven definitely has hot spots.  Looks like croissants are no longer my baking nemesis : )

Really good lamination on the Pain au Chocolat

Croissants were much easier to shape with lower gluten flour

Mr Vitty thinks they need to be bigger....

Quince Sweets

With their pretty fury skins and sour flesh that turns a rich, deep pink when cooked quinces are somewhat of an enigmatic fruit.  Widely used in middle eastern and persian cooking where it is often paired with lamb, the quince is somewhat underutilised in the UK.  Yet it has a long history in british cookery gracing tudor dining tables.

Knobbly Quinces

Perhaps because of the Moorish influence in the culture of Andalucia, in the spanish side of my family the use of quinces is much more normal.  Membrillo is a sweet quince paste that is a common accompaniament to cheese but also just eaten on its own.  When I last made membrillo I swore I'd never do it again.  Although when the quinces are  cooking their delicious flowery perfume fills the house, quinces are hard work. They are tough to chop, have to be boiled for hours, then the pulp gets passes through a sieve to get rid of the seeds and skin before boiling for another couple of hours with sugar until its thick enough to hold its shape and cut into cubes when cold. 

But when my work colleague gave me 2 kilos of quinces from her tree, battle commenced.

Membrillo has just 4 ingredients - Quinces, Water, Sugar and time.

Wash and roughly chop the quinces, but don't peel or core them.  I found cutting through the core really difficult so it was much easier to hack the flesh from around the core and then cut into smaller pieces.  Put the quince in a large pan and just cover with water.  Bring to the boil and then simmer until the quinces are soft and pulpy.  Turn off the heat and leave for a few hours or even overnight.  Pass the pulp through a sieve to remove the fibrous material, skin and pips.  Weigh the pulp and return it to the pan with the same weight of sugar.  Put over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.  Bring slowly to the boil stiring frequently to stop the paste catching and burning on the bottom of the pan.  Keep simmering the quince paste, stirring to stop it catching on the bottom, until you can pull a spoon through the paste and see the bottom of the pan for a few seconds.   The membrillo will splutter like boiling mud.

Chopped and Ready to Boil

 

Mashed Quinces - don't worry it gets better looking

  

Just a little sugar.....

 

 Beginning to change colour

While you're waiting for the membrillo to cook line some foil trays with greaseproof or waxed paper, ensuring that you leave enough overlap to fully wrap the membrillo.  Tip the quince paste into the lined trays and leave to cool.  Wrap with the paper and store in fridge for 4-6 weeks.

I made 1.5 trays with 2.5 kg quinces.  With the 1/2 tray I decided to turn the paste into sweets.  I happened to have some citric acid in the cupboard from a cheese making kit.  Citric acid mixed with sugar is what makes sour sweets sour.  After much experimentation I decided that a 1:20 mix of citric acid and granulated sugar was about right.  I cut the membrillo into cubes and placed the sugar/citric acid mix in a food bag.  The membrillo cubes were coated with the sugar by droping them into the sugar 5 at a time and shaking them.  I also coated some with icing sugar which gave a finish a bit more like turkish delight.

Cubed quince cheese

Coated with granulated sugar and citric acid

In jars ready to take to work

Scones

When it comes to scones I'm a bit of a purist.  I don't want them contaminated with cranberries, chocolate, nuts or even candied peel (and definately not iced). Scones should be a frugal treat not adulterated with added luxuries. For me the perfect scone is a not too sweet, moist cross between a biscuit and cake with perhaps added raisins.  The outside should have a bit of a crunch but the inside soft and fluffy.  A good scone needs nothing more than a pot of tea, butter (or clotted cream) and good raspberry jam.  A really good scone doesn't even need the jam.

Jarrold's Scones - Best in Norwich?

My standard scone recipe is accordingly parsimonius. It's based on the recipe in my 1974 Cookery Year - a book that's as old as I am and was one of my parents wedding presents.

Scones (Makes 6)


Ingredients:

225 g Plain Flour
3 Teaspoons Baking Powder
50 g Butter
25 g Caster Sugar
25 g Raisins
150 ml Milk (or buttermilk)

Sift together the flour and baking powder.  Rub in the butter so the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.  Add the sugar and raisins.  Pour in the milk and bring the mixture together into a wet dough with a knife, being careful not to overwork it.  Tip the dough onto a lightly floured board and pat down until the dough is about 2.5 cm high.  Cut out scones using a pastry cutter, glass or into squares.   Place on a baking tray and brush the top of each scone with a little milk.  Cook at 200 C for 15 minutes or until well risen and brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

For cheese scones I omit the sugar and raisins and add 50g grated strong cheese - (I use half parmesan and half cheddar).  I sometimes add chopped rosemary or sweet smoked paprika.  Top with a little grated cheese before baking.

For plain sweet scones increase the sugar to 50g and omit the raisins. 

Fresh from the oven

A cornish treat - clotted cream and jam

Carrot Soup, Bread and Caramel Apple Pudding

When I was at University I shared a house with 3 other girls who (so far) have remained life long friends.  To save time and money we each cooked for the whole flat one day a week.  The food consumed in our flat wasn't the stereotypical studenty cheese on toast or pot noodle, but we did have some rules as to what constituted 'dinner'.  Homemade Soup, good bread and pudding qualified (tinned soup with bad bread and no pudding didn't).

Last week was a stressful week at work and the weather was autumnally wet and windy.  So when the weekend came along all I wanted to do was hibernate, read books, watch soppy films and eat comfort food.  Soup, bread and pudding met the brief.   The carrot and coriander soup is something I make quite regularly but I was particularly pleased with the bread (Pain de Campagne from Richard Bertinet's book, Dough) and my apple and caramel pudding.

Caramel Apple Pudding (my invention : ) )

Pain de Campange from Richard Bertinet's 'Dough'

Carrot and Coriander Soup

The Pain de Campagne took all day to make, but it was worth it.  It needs a ferment to provide the depth of flavour, but I was so tired and headachy after work I couldn't bring myself to set it up - so needed to do that in the morning.  I started making the bread at 10:00 and it was eventually finished at 18:34!  Most of the time was waiting for it to ferment, rise and prove and it was worth the wait.  The ferment and 20% rye gave it a really good flavour, like a light sour dough, and the texture was great.  I made 2 loaves so one will go in the freezer but it's definately something I'll make again.  Even Mr Vitty who's generally a bit skeptical about rye bread and sourdough loved it.

The apple and caramel pudding was inspired by left over cooking apples from the Charlotte and the last of the caramel that has been lurking in the freezer since my birthday at the beginning of October.  I wanted 'stodge' - something like a suet pudding but made with what I had in the house and without the hours of steaming.  I'm always surprised and delighted when something I invent works.  This worked really well.  The bramley apple offset the sweetness of the caramel and the soft squidgy sponge had a crisp top (that became the bottom).  I'll definately make it again when I need something to soothe and comfort on a blustery evening in  front of the fire.

Just out of the oven

Pudding with its own sauce

Carrot and Coriander Soup (serves 3-4)

Ingredients Olive Oil Knob of Butter 2 Medium Onions 8 Carrots Pepper Stock or water Salt Small bunch fresh coriander

Method Heat the oil and butter over a medium heat.  Chop the onion and saute until soft.  Peel and roughly chop the carrots and add them to the onions.  Stir to coat in the oil/butter.  Season with pepper and add enough stock or water to cover the vegetables.  Bring to the boil then simmer gently until the carrots are soft. Take the soup off the heat and liquidise or pass through a sieve.  Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Keep a couple of sprigs of coriander back for a garnish. Chop the rest of the coriander and stir through the soup.  Serve with a sprinkling of coriander over the top.

Caramel Apple Pudding (serves 3)

Ingredients Caramel 150 g Caster Sugar 150 g Double Cream 75 g Butter Sponge 2 oz (56 g) Butter 2 oz (56 g) Sugar 1 Egg 1 Medium Bramley Apple 2 oz (56 g) Plain Flour + a little extra 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Method Make the caramel.  Heat the sugar over a medium heat until it begins to melt.  Shake the pan occasionally to ensure the sugar melts evenly.  When the sugar has melted boil it until it turns a caramel colour.  Remove from the heat and stir in the cream.  If the caramel clumps together put the pan back over a medium heat and whisk or stir rapidly until the cream is incorporated and caramel sauce has formed.  Take off the heat and stir in the butter.  Allow to cool.  (This will make far more caramel than you need but the rest can be frozen). Preheat the oven to 180 C.  Peel, core and finely grate half the apple and finely dice the other half.  Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and the grated apple.  The apple will add extra liquid so add a couple of dessert spoons of the extra flour, just enough to absorb the liquid.  Sift together the rest of the plain flour with the baking powder and fold into the butter/sugar/apple mixture. Butter 3 metal timbale moulds and place 1 tablespoon of caramel in the bottom.  Top with a sprinkling of the diced apple and then divide the apple sponge between the moulds so they are about 3/4 full.  Place the moulds in a small roasting tin half filled with water.  Place in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until a knife or skewer inserted into the sponges comes out clean.  Leave for a couple of minutes to settle then run a knife around the pudding and tip into a bowl so that the apple and caramel form a sauce on top of a sticky apple pudding. (If you don't have time to make caramel an almost good pudding can be made by placing diced apple in the bottom of the timbales with about 15 g butter, a heaped dessert spoon of brown sugar and sprinkling of cinnamon.  Then top with the sponge mix and proceed as described above)

Apple Charlotte

Of all the things made on this year's Great British Bake Off it was the Charlotte Russe I most wanted to have a go at.  I've never made many of the component parts (let alone get them to stay together) and recipes involving mousses, meringue and gelatine aren't my normal style, so I wanted to try something new.

So when the Richard Bertinet Patisserie Maison (which has an apple charlotte recipe in it) I bought for my birthday arrived in the same week as Mr Vitty's birthday when his brother and family were visiting and we were on holiday (so had time) it was too good an opportunity to miss.  It was also an opportunity to practise with a piping bag.  I need more practice, but it looked OK, even if the sponge fingers weren't quite all the same.

Apple Charlotte

This took a lot of time, but people seemed to like the end result.  I think I'll have another go at some point but will adapt it to have a more appley taste by using Bramley apple juice rather than a bog standard one from a supermarket and add a blackberry jelly layer.  If I can get the sponge fingers to be a bit more regular I might even try and make it into a self supporting charlotte russe.

Ladies Finger Biscuits - need more practice with a piping bag

Everything ready for assembly - Italian Meringue, Whipped Cream, Apple Custard, Caramelised Apple, Ladies Fingers and Calvados Sugar Syrup

Ready to Eat