Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Thank you both, Jasmine and Annemarie for this lovely challenge and for the recipe below.

This was great pastry to work with and easy to make. Next time I will make double the quantity and freeze half for a quick dessert...er...pudding in the future. I've used sour cherry jam in this one but not my own this time!!!

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding:

You will need a 23cm (9”) tart pan and a rolling pin.

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)

Flour for the bench

250ml (1cup) jam, warmed for spreadability (sieved to remove any seeds)

One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)

One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry

225g (8oz) all purpose flour

30g (1oz) sugar

2.5ml (½ tsp) salt

110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)

2 (2) egg yolks

2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)

15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater.

Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture.

Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened

125g (4.5oz) icing sugar

3 (3) eggs

2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract

125g (4.5oz) ground almonds

30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

The Abbotsford Convent Breadmaking Class

"The warm complex aroma of a freshly baked loaf of bread can be an utterly tantalizing experience" - Convent Bakery

I was at a luthiers exhibition a few weeks ago at the Abbotsford Convent. I went to the Bakery for a coffee. Seeing a class in progress in the actual bakery made me sign up there and then. Making one's own bread is such a pleasure and I hadn't made bread in a while. I first read about the Convent's bread baking classes 2 years ago but at that time, they were booked out. Their classes include bread making, pastry making, nougat and panforte, brioche, danishes and croissants.

The Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne, was built in 1901. There are 11 historic buildings and gardens spread over 6.8 hectares on a bend of the Yarra River. It is surrounded by the Collingwood Children's Farm and parklands and is approximately 4 kilometers from the CBD.

The Convent Bakery in the kitchen annexe played an integral part in the self-sustaining life style of the Sisters of Good Shepard. The magnificent wood fired masonry ovens still stand today after 108 years and are used for baking wood fired bread and pastries. The bakery is open seven days a week for a full breakfast and lunch and Friday nights at the Boiler Room for wood fired pizza.

I arrived early in anticipation of a great day. I wasn't disappointed. The day started with a lovely cup of coffee and croissant while I waited for the other participants to arrive. The class was taken by Dan Thyer.

First, we made Aussie style scones for our morning tea which we had with raspberry jam and cream, and the rest to take home.

Then we made pizza for our lunch

and a calzone to take home for dinner.

And we made 2 types of bread:

White sourdough and rye sourdough

Another Great Day!!!!

Scones:

• 400 gm self raising flour
• 30 gm sugar
• pinch of salt
• 40 gm butter
• 250 ml milk

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and with clean hands. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch (1 cm) cubes. Rub the butter through the flour mixture until you get a consistency like bread crumbs. Add the milk. Don't over mix, just gently bring it all together otherwise you will over-develop the gluten in the flour and the scones will be tough. You can add a pinch of cinnamon and 80 - 100gm of sultanas at the mixing stage if you like. Divide the mixture into 10 portions and roll each portion in to a ball. These can be rested for up to half an hour if you don't want to bake them straight away. Bake at 12 -15 minutes.

Pizza/Calzone Dough:

• 500 gm plain flour (or wholemeal flour)
• 10 gm salt
• 25 gm sugar
• 60 ml olive oil
• 15 gm instant yeast (25 gm for wholemeal)
• 320 ml cold water

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. With both hands, mix it until it forms a ball of dough. Take the dough from the bowl and place it on the bench. Knead the dough for a further 15 minutes until the dough is developed. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover it for a further 2 hours so it can proof. Split the dough into 2 or 3 pieces according to what size pizza/calzone you are making. Flatten the dough to fit the shape of your tray. Baste the dough with garlic flavoured olive oil then pizza tomato sauce, leaving a half inch border around the edge. Cover the pizza with your choice of toppings (I used pepperoni, fresh tomato, artichoke, marinated red peppers and olives) then sprinkle over cheese. Don't over-do it with the topping or you will have a soggy pizza. Bake at 230°C for 12 - 15 minutes.

For the calzone, only cover half of the dough with topping. Fold the unfilled half over the filled half and press the edges together. Cut 3 to 4 slits in the top of the calzone to let the steam escape and bake as for pizza above.

White Sourdough:

• 500 gm baker's white flour
• 10 gm salt
• 85 gm levain (sourdough culture)
• 30 ml olive oil
• 10 gm instant yeast
• 1 small pinch vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
• 300 ml cold water

Mix and form dough then place on the bench and knead for 15 - 20 minutes. Place the dough into a bowl sprayed with olive oil and cover for 2 hours for proofing. Your dough should double in size during this time. Place the dough on the bench and give 10 minutes to rest before molding into shape then final proofing for 45 minutes. Bake at 210°C for 30 - 35 minutes.

Rye Sourdough:

• 700 gm white baker's flour
• 300 gm rye meal
• 20 gm salt
• 200 gm rye levain
• 70 ml olive oil
• 20 gm instant yeast
• 1 tiny pinch vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
• 650 ml cold water

Mix and form dough then place on the bench and knead for 15 - 20 minutes. Place the dough into a bowl sprayed with olive oil and cover for 2 hours for proofing. Your dough should double in size during this time. Place the dough on the bench and give 10 minutes to rest before molding into shape then final proofing for 45 minutes. Bake at 210°C for 30 - 35 minutes.

June 2009 Daring Baker's Challenge - Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers

I have joined the Daring Bakers' and Daring Cooks', a spinoff from Daring Bakers. So this is my very first challenge - the June 2009 Daring Cooks' challenge which has been hosted by Jen from use real butter. Jen has chosen Chinese Dumplings/potstickers and has given excellent instructions, photos and a discussion about them on her blog post. Thanks Jen for a great first challenge.

I have eaten many Chinese dumplings before but what a lovely challenge to actually make fresh home made dumplings. This is something that I never would have undertaken if I hadn't joined up with the Daring Cooks'. What a sense of accomplishment!!!! Being my husband's birthday, it was the perfect excuse to have them as an entree to a lovely Malaysian Chinese dinner cooked by my son's girlfriend.

I have used a shrimp and pork filling and made the dumplings as potstickers (pan fried).

Shrimp filling:

1/2 lb (225g) raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and coarsely chopped

1/2 lb (225g) ground pork

3 stalks green onions, minced

1/4 cup (55g) ginger root, minced

1 cup (142g) water chestnuts, minced

1 tsp (5g) salt

3 tbsp (40g) sesame oil

2 tbsp (16g) corn starch

Dough:

(you will need to double this for the amount of filling but make it in two batches as it is easier to mix)

2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (113g) warm water flour for worksurface

Dipping sauce:

2 parts soy sauce

1 part vinegar (red wine or black)

a few drops of sesame oil

chili garlic paste (optional)

minced ginger (optional)

minced garlic (optional)

minced green onion or garlic chives (optional)

sugar (optional)

Mix all the prepared filling ingredients together in a bowl. Keep refrigerated until you are ready to use it.

It takes extra time to chop the filling ingredients up but you get a nice texture for the filling. If you use a food processor, the filling will be too soft.

To make the dough - in a large bowl, combine the flour and water and stir until the water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until the dough pulls clears the side of the bowl. The dough should be firm and barely sticky to the touch.

Knead the dough for a few about a minute then cover with a damp tea towel for 15 minutes. The dough should be firm and silky to touch.

The challenge is to make the dumpling wrappers by hand using a rolling pin. This keeps the wrappers the same size and gives a more delicate thickness. It takes a little time and practice but after 10 to 12 dumplings you get the hang of it.

Form the dough into a flattened dome. To make the dough discs, slice the dough ball into strips. Roll each strip into a sausage shape approximately 3 cm (1 1/4 inches) thick. On a floured surface, slice off pieces about 2cm (3/4 inch) thick and the press into a circular shape. With the palm of your hand, press down on each piece to form a flat circle. Use a non-tappered rolling pin to roll out a circular wrapper for each disc, leaving the centres slightly thicker than the edges (to hold the filling). Keep all unused discs covered with the damp tea towel until you are ready to fill them.

Place approximately one tablespoon of the filling in the centre of each wrapper keeping 1cm (1/2 inch) of the edge free. It takes some practice not to over or underfill them and keep the edges clean. Fold the dough in half then pleat the edges(see images in Jen's post on folding pleats). Pinch the top tight then gradually make 2 to 3 more pleats from the centre down toward the end. Leave a tear drop shape at the end, then push the end in and pinch it shut. Turn the dumpling around with pleats facing away from you and pleat toward the centre on the same side as you have already pleated. The dumpling will curve into a crescent. Pinch the edges and pleats tightly again.

For the dipping sauce: Mix all ingredients together.

To pan fry (potstickers):

I used a flat bottomed Scanpan skillet. Place the dumplings in the pan with 2 - 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Heat on a high heat for a few minutes until the bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup of water and cover quickly as it will spit and splutter. Continue cooking until the water has evaporated then uncover and reduce heat to medium low. Let the dumplings cook for a further 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve with the dipping sauce.

Don’t forget to check out some really amazing dumplings by the other Daring Cooks by clicking on the links to their blogs at the temporary Daring Cooks Blogroll.

Vue De Monde for My Birthday

What a beautiful gesture. This is the best possible dining experience I have ever had. Five friends have taken me to lunch at Vue de Monde (Melbourne) to celebrate my birthday. The modern French food was sublime. The service was impeccable and yet still charming and friendly. To top it off, we were invited for the ultimate experience of sitting at the Chef's Table in a semi private alcove with an unobstructed view of the kitchen. What a delight to watch this young professional team, so busy and yet so disciplined and focused on what they were doing.

We had the 'Menu du Jour' - available only at lunch time (from Tuesday to Friday) with a selection of two courses with signature dishes (excellent value at a mere $55) including a matching glass of wine and side dishes for the table. Vue de Monde also bake their own fresh bread twice daily. We had a choice of several little rolls including rye, olive, sourdough and brown bread along with the famous Echire butter.

We all opted for the entree and the main and then as an added extra, we had coffee and petits fours instead of dessert.

MENU DU JOUR

For entrée - a choice from:

COQUILLE SAINT-JACQUES À L’OSSO BUCCO - Coffin Bay scallops ‘Osso Bucco’

RISONI AUX CHAMPIGNONS SAUVAGES - Wild pine mushroom risoni

SALADE À LA CARBONARA - Carbonara salad

BROCHETTE DE VEAU - Skewers of veal tonnato

For main course

MERLAN EN CROÛTE - King George whiting with courgette tempura and tapenade

CRABE ET POLENTA - Crab with polenta

TOURTE AU CANARD - Duck pie with épice sauce

RÔTI DE BOEUF ET ESCARGOTS - Roast wagyu beef with snails and béarnaise

For Dessert

CHEESECAKE AUX BAIES DE TASMANIE ET À LA RHUBARBE - Tassie berry and rhubarb cheesecake

SOUFFLÉ NORMAND - Apple and Calvados soufflé

FROMAGE DE CHÊVRE - ‘Pandora’s box’ with prunes and Armagnac

Fromages:

PAPILLON ROQUEFORT, Sheep's milk, Roquefort, France

IRONSTONE, Cow's milk, Gippsland, Australia

SEVRE ET BELLE CAPRIFEUILLE, Goat’s milk, Celle sur Belle, France

ISIGNY BRIE, Cow’s milk, Normandie, France

ROUZAIRE CAMEMBERT, Cow’s milk, Ile de France, France

SAINT-NECTAIRE, Cow's Milk, Auvergne, France

LIVAROT, Cow's milk, Normandy, France

QUESO TRADITIONAL MANCHEGO, Ewe’s milk, La Mancha, Spain

COMTÉ, Cow's milk, Franche-Comté, France

OSSAU IRATY, Ewe’s milk, Pyrénées, France

MUNSTER AOC, Cow’s milk, Alsace, France

These photos don't do justice to this divine food.

Coffin Bay scallops ‘Osso Bucco’

As a refresher, liquid frozen verjuice with hibiscus tea in a martini glass.

King George whiting with courgette tempura and tapenade

Crab with polenta

Duck pie with épice sauce

Roast wagyu beef with snails and béarnaise

Sides included a delightful salad and Pommes Pont Neuf

Petits-fours served with our Illy coffee

This really was a wonderful experience. Afterwards, we strolled in for a visit to Bistro Vue for a look see. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Canneles on the Bistro counter, having seen them only in books before. When I asked if they were 'in fact' Canneles, the lovely young man behind the counter gave me one to try. I was in seventh heaven. I did the right thing and shared it with my friends (talk about sharing the loaves!!!!). It was magnificent. I would love to make them, however, cannele moulds are over $100AU each.

We then went in to Cafe Vue. I spoilt myseslf by buying Shannon Bennett's books "My Vue - Modern French Cookery" and "My French Vue - Bistro Cooking at Home". All-in-all a lovely day.

I can't wait to go back again.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

My lovely friend, Judi, made a flourless chocolate cake for my birthday. Dark cooking chocolate and large eggs make this cake light and delicious.

Melt together in heatproof bowl over simmering water:

120g butter

200g dark cooking chocolate

100g sugar

1 Tab brandy

1 Tab strong black coffee

100g ground almonds/almond meal (or hazelnuts)

4 large eggs (separated)

Preheat the oven to 180C (360F). Stir chocolate, sugar, brandy and black coffee until smooth. Stir in 100g almond meal (ground almonds) or hazelnuts, then 4 egg yolks. Beat 4 egg whites until stiff but not dry, fold a spoonful of this into the chocolate mixture to lighten it then fold the rest of the egg whites and chocolate mixture all together. Bake in a greased and paper-lined 20cm tin for 30-40 minutes (Judi bakes her cake for 30 minutes - as her new oven seems extra hot). Cool the cake in the tin, turn out and then dust with icing sugar. It's extra nice served with thick cream.

Banana-Banana Bread Using the KitchenAid Scrape-a-Bowl

I received my Scrape-a-Bowl blade on Wednesday evening (3 days ago) and so far I have only made banana-banana cake and soft gingerbread dough (another post). I didn't think it creamed the butter and sugar as well as I would have liked for the gingerbread. It may have been that the recipe called for granular sugar. I normally use castor sugar for my recipes as the smaller particles aerated the mixture much better. I didn't have any problems with the banana bread.

Banana-Banana Bread adapted from Shelley Albeluhn's recipe on Allrecipes.com.

I'm sure it's called banana-banana because it has loads of wonderful banana flavour. This is the best banana bread recipe you can find. It is moist and delicious and soooo... adaptable. I throw in whatever I have on hand in the pantry that will go with it. You can use more or less bananas. I have used between 5 and 7 at different times and the result is still perfect every time. If you don't have enough banana, use apple sauce to make up the volume. You can add any type of nuts, spices and fruit - fresh or dry. This time I have added walnuts, unsalted cashews, almonds, dried cherries and a multitude of different spices.

Basic Ingredients:

250g (2 cups) all-purpose flour

5g (1 teaspoon) baking soda

2g (1/4 teaspoon) salt

115g (1/2 cup) butter

110g (3/4 cup) brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten well

525g (6-7 - around 2 1/3 cups) mashed overripe bananas

(definitely overripe for the real banana taste)

Optional:

100g walnuts

100g unsalted cashews

100g raw almonds

100g dried cherries (or whatever you have in the pantry)

100g dark chocolate chips (or milk or white chocolate chips)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon ground allspice (or whatever spices your taste dictates)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 11 x 4 inch loaf pan (I used my large bread tin). If you don't add the optional ingredients, use a 9 x 5 pan.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, spices, cherries and nuts in a large bowl. In another bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar (use the Scrape-a-Blade if you have one). Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into the flour mixture. As this is a quick bread, stir just enough to moisten so it doesn't toughen. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the banana bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Alternatively, you can make muffins. The basic recipe makes 12 muffins. With the optional ingredients, I usually make around 18 muffins with the amounts above. These only have to cook for 20 - 25 minutes.

See the reviews and video of the KitchenAid Scrape-a-Bowl on the Williams-Sonoma Website. No more stoppping to scrape down the sides. It mixes liquid and soft batters fabulously and works in half the time. Overall, a very efficient mixer blade and well worth the price ($49AU).

Positives:

It conforms to the shape of the mixer bowl

It scrapes the entire sides and bottom of the bowl with every revolution

It has a curved shape that folds the ingredients towards the middle

It has a taller blade that reaches ingredients higher in the bowl for more uniform mixing

It has parallel crossbars that mixes faster

It mixes in half the time of the original blade

Negatives:

You can't use it for heavy doughs such as cookies or it may break.

Some reviews state that it doesn't work as well for frostings, whip cream, and creaming butter and sugar. My advice is to use castor (super fine) sugar for most recipes and use the original blade for cookies.

Grampians Grape Escape Wine and Food Festival

I've just spent a fabulous weekend up at Halls Gap for the Grampians Grape Escape - the wine and food festival. It was a three hour drive from Melbourne and worth every minute of it. We arrived at 11am with a great start to the day with the fabulous blues music of Nick Charles.

Nick is a virtuoso of acoustic roots music and well known both on the Australian and international scene. Later we were entertained by uplifting tunes of the Jazz Traders.

A highlight of the festival was cooking demonstrations by Channel 7's Bettter Homes and Gardens - 'Fast' Ed Halmagyi who used the regional produce and kept the audience entertained with his witty humour.

There were over 60 vendors with goodies including wine, beer, olives, cheeses, nuts, honey, lavender and organic produce to mention a few. Here is a little sample of the great produce on show:

St Anne's Vineyards

Mount Pierrepoint Estate

Meredith Dairy - wonderful goat and sheep milk products

We had these lovely little creamy cheesecakes with lemon butter after dinner tonight - made with Meredith Farm's original Chevre and ewe's milk yoghurt by Ms Mullins (clmullins@bigpond.com) who was assisting on the stand (Lemon Butter also from the Meredith Dairy stand).

Organic vegetable from Bellellen Grampians Organics

(A sample: garlic, multi-coloured carrots, red Russian kale)

Olives and olive oil from Mount Zero Olives

Grampians Olive Estate

(cold pressed extra virgin and lemon pressed extra virgin olive oil)

Pistachio nuts from Go Just Nuts

Barkly Lavender & Rose Farm

Hot Stuff - Chilly from Love's Pantry

Pizza from Glenthompson Bricks Outdoor Wood Fired Ovens

And here are some of the local residences