#78 Good Bread

Remind me to never bake a cake on a Tuesday again (and if it’s Tuesday the 13th, maybe just write the day off altogether!). I slept terribly on Monday night, which meant that I had plenty of unsolicited thinking time including a decision to bake a vanilla sponge cake when I got up. I probably should have read the danger signs, starting with the fact that poor sleep = part of brain absent, I didn’t of course, and so I embarked on cake gate. As with last week, you would have MARVELLED at my precision, the lack of chaos and the care I took… except I managed to use 50g more butter than required. I can’t be bothered trying to explain the logic behind my error, although just to be clear there WAS SOME LOGIC, I’m not a complete fruit loop, but needless to say, it was buttery, dense, and fairly flat, not to mention frustrating!! I later had a rather public meltdown whilst walking the dog with Mum and generally the day didn’t rate as one of my best! Tuesday the 13th = approach with caution in the future.

… In case you wondered (I know you didn’t) I did manage to redeem myself after Tuesday’s cake gate. On Wednesday, I remade said cake. I sandwiched two layers of, (less buttery, but still lovely-buttery), vanilla sponge with strawberry compote and vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream. This naturally involved a lot of sampling… a good day.
Side note, I also feel like I’ve 80% nailed Swiss meringue buttercream which is pleasing because it’s one of those things that makes me quiver with nerves a bit when I make it (no jokes). I still need to establish why it’s a bit… airy, but otherwise I’m pretty chuffed with this latest attempt.

Last Sunday, I made some truly MARVELLOUS scones. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this to you before, but scones have a really special place in my heart which means I expect a lot from them. Now I don’t like to toot my own horn, but I’ve recently learnt more scone lessons, and I THINK I’ve found my version of UTTER perfection – I will try the recipe again in the next couple of weeks and then share it with you… SOON, very SOON!

Camera-ing (aka photography) is hard. My first major lesson was that a digital camera is programmed to assume that every image is made up of an average tone of around 18% grey, thus, images taken on auto mode, will default to an overall grey tone which is the common cause of them looking lifeless and, well, a bit grey. In order to take a magic photo, you need to override this by taking control of the settings - this sounds simple, but I’m fast learning that it’s like learning quantum physics… in another language.
It is, however, an interesting and important lesson to learn, I sense this road to becoming a professional photographer could be long!!!

Being excited for others is infectious… I contacted an old acquaintance on Instagram earlier in the week and asked him a few photography-based questions. He sent the loveliest reply, which included the fact that he was excited for me; I’m not sure that he realised the impact of that sentence, but it honestly felt so uplifting and inspiring. Note to self, be excited for others.

My freezer, and tummy, are bursting with batches of French-style bread (the recipes below = bread HEAVEN). Earlier in the year I got a real hankering for a proper baguette, and set out on a mission to create one without too much faff or complexity but with all the French charm. Since this moment, I have been churning out mini baguettes or ‘Ficelle’, fougasse, and bread sticks, and greedily gobbling them for lunch everyday smothered with Isigny Sainte-Mere salted butter or dunked in pools of Greek extra virgin olive oil - it’s been the absolute dream, trust me. I also need to give a massive shoutout to Rebekah at Shipton Mill for digging me out of a flour hole this week (I ran out of my favourite T55 flour and she VERY kindly managed to express ship me a top up order. Big. HUGE. LOVE).

Randomly painting your nails at 6:30am on a Thursday morning in February using just the torch on your phone for light is an interesting (quite stupid) exercise. Don’t recommend it.

… and that, my friends, is my week in a nutshell. Oh wait, one more thing, - if you need a laugh, go and watch “Rob and Romesh VS F1: Monaco” on Sky - you don’t need to be an F1 fan to enjoy it!

Happy week friends! Big Love!

Steph X X X

French Bread 3 ways

I’m sure we all agree that the French know how to do bread, nothing beats a French baguette smothered in salty French butter. Replicating it at home is hard, but this base dough yields something which really stands up to the competition in my opinion.

This recipe is made to be fuss free, pretty quick, and effective, however, understanding bread isn’t something you can just learn on the spot. Unfortunately, it takes time, patience and annoyingly, learning from your mistakes. That being said, when you start to master it, it’s the most rewarding thing EVER!

In the recipe below, I suggest using a traditional French bread making flour - T55 flour. In France, flour is categorised by its ash content, which is where the name T55 is derived. It is ideal for making delicious French-style bread with the fine airy texture identical to the stuff that originated from France. You can substitute a standard strong bread flour for T55 flour if that’s all you have but it will compromise the final result slightly.

To try to expedite the process such that you can decide you want bread in the morning and have it on the table by lunchtime, I have used a fairly high proportion of yeast, it’s possible to lower this down to 2-3g of instant yeast, which will yield a loaf with a more complex flavour profile, but you will need to account for the reduction in yeast by giving it longer to proof - an initial overnight proof in the fridge can be useful in this case and you would need to extend the second proof slightly too.

I add a little bit of sugar to my dough because… I do… it doesn’t make the loaf sweet at all but somehow amplifies the flavour in my opinion.

I add the salt a little bit later in the kneading process - salt can inhibit gluten formation so I hold it back for a few minutes to allow the dough to form some strength before sprinkling it in and continuing to knead.

Ok, enough chat, give them a go… or just pop round and I’ll grab one out of the freezer for you!

Cute little Ficelle

Oozy Olive and cheese bread sticks

Fougasse - for tearing, (not sharing) and oil dipping...