Beef Mince & Mushroom Pie - Back to basics with this mince pie, which also has onions and carrots in it. Add some herbs, a good glug of red wine and Marsala and it’s a decent pie.

 

Blackcurrant & Custard Torte. Once you crack the basics, there’s no limit to the different types of torte you can make. On this occasion, I kept the custard separate from the blackcurrant filling to create a better effect.

 

Pasties. Old fashioned pasties made from shortcrust pastry and filled with beef skirt, potato, turnip and onion are hard to beat. Why change a classic as they say. But we like a change so I often use other fillings such as chicken and mushroom or as with this batch, onion, carrots, beef ragu sauce and coriander. I also added curry powder and turmeric to the pastry.

 

Baking Bread Tips. Before I start handing out what could be unwanted advice, are you open to advice or do you prefer to potter around experimenting for yourself and learning as you go trying different online recipes?

By the way, your loaf looks pale so would we be right in assuming that one’s got a very low percentage of wholemeal flour, if any?

 

Happy to accept advice - the loaf was a fully normal loaf, no wholemeal flour in it at all but still came out pale. For info I took the lid off the Dutch oven as per the recipe / video I was following and put it back in the oven for 10 minutes which was supposed to brown it up - it didn't!

 

1. Cup measurements V Grams
Any professional baker will tell you to use grams every time when it comes to baking bread or cakes. As you know only too well, we have British cups sizes, American cups, Australian, Canadian and the list goes on. Besides, cups measurements are simply not accurate.

If you come across bread recipes in cups, my advice would be to move on. Life is too short trying to work out where the author is from and which cup sizes they are using and then converting it to grams. There are plenty of good recipes out there specifying grams only. I’m happy to on recipes if you want. However, the majority of my bread recipes are made using pullman loaf pans, which are extremely forgiving for the amateur baker - see below. I find that I can use higher hydration because of the provided by the sides of the pullman.

2. Pullman Loaf Pans
Everybody has their own preference as to what is better for baking bread, a dutch oven or Pullman Loaf Pans. Apart from my own experience, I haven’t heard any negatives about dutch ovens. People say that they should be heated up in the oven so that your dough hits a hot surface; well, that didn’t work for me. I was constantly getting loaves with a burnt bottom. Like I say, most people seem to love them therefore I must have been doing something wrong. I used to borrow mine from a friend but if I had my own, I'd still use it for some breads, especially sourdough loaves.

I mentioned briefly in an earlier post the benefit of using Pullman Loaf Pans for baking bread; sometimes they are referred to as ‘Sandwich Pans’. Whether you’re a professional baker, or just starting out in bread making, I believe these are excellent pans to have. They come in many different sizes so it’s up to the individual baker to decide upon the size of loaves he/ she intends to bake. I find it economical to bake larger loaves weighing approx 1.6kg after baking., then slice them up for freezing. However, if I’m trying out a new recipe, it makes sense to try a smaller loaf first before upsizing. Hence I find it useful to have a range of sizes. I also use the smaller ones for baking loaf cakes.

Like all things, you can buy rubbish or quality pullman loaf pans. I recommend forking out a little extra for the quality variety, which will last you a lifetime. Mine were bought here from two different sources and I’ve had some of them for over 7 years now. The quality is excellent as they use heavy gauge aluminium steel and the inside of the pan is coated with a non-stick coating to prevent the dough from sticking. The straight and narrow sides force the dough into a confined and narrow rise and the browning is always even. Even when baking with Rye, which is notoriously sticky, I’ve never had a loaf stick to my pullman pans, which is a huge bonus in itself. They come with or without a sliding lid that covers the top of the pan during baking. If you’re going to purchase a pullman, make sure you get the lid version. Wiping with a damp cloth is usually the only cleaning required. So, for anyone thinking of getting into home bread baking, you won’t go far wrong by investing in a decent pullman loaf tin. If you want to know the brand I bought or a link, let me know.

 

Yep, I will be more careful next time I follow an online recipe, anything in cups and I will 'move along'

I have a pullman loaf tin and used it successfully, I just thought I'd try something different.

Also I think a lot of these YouTube video recipe's are just BS!

 

Tried a different recipe with much better results, still a little pale but I'm getting there!

 

Looking good Pugwash, looks like damper. let your dough rise, kneed it again and let it rise for another hour. a damp towel over the top, let it aerate, make sure your oven is hot enough to get your creations excited. You want crust crank up the oven for the last 10 minutes. Still? Why weren't we invited.

Cheers, Steve.

 

Mohn Kuchen mit Struesel / Poppyseed Cake with Crumble. This is my wife’s all time favourite tray bake and a common cake sold in bakeries throughout Austria and . A shortcrust base and a filling consisting of crushed poppyseeds, raisins soaked in rum, semolina, eggs, milk, custard powder and almond essence ++, then topped with a crumble.
Unfortunately poppyseeds purchased in the Ph cost approx ₱150 per 100g as opposed to ₱400 per 1kg in the UK. Just another of those items worth having sent over in the Balakbayan box.

 

Chicken Vindaloo and Chicken & Cashew Curry with Naan. I prefer a hot vindaloo whilst my wife favours the mild, chicken & cashew curry with tempering. Both perfect with home-made, stove top Naan.

 

Lemon Curd Cheesecake. Made the base from a batch of rusks that needed u. A nice 'lightish' dessert after the curry.

 

Parmesan & Onion Sesame Sourdough Thins/ (Crisps). When you feed your sourdough starter, the volume multiplies and therefore people struggle with what to do with the excess; there is often a tendency to throw it out. These super tasty oven baked crisps made from 'left over starter' avoid that wastage and are a must try; even our local Filipino neighbours demolished them within minutes.

 

Sourdough Crepes with Fresh Mango & Cream. Another great use for left over sourdough starter. Having said that, as these crepes are a regular favourite, made with coconut milk and ripe bananas, we tend to make up a batch of sourdough starter purely for these alone.

 

Bakewell Tart. This classic British favourite is always a winner. A shortcrust base with a thin layer of raspberry jam and a frangipani filling. Hard to beat! No raspberries? Use whatever you like, just don’t mention it to purists who can get awfully funny about these things.

 

Malted Spelt Loaf. Bags of flavour with this 20% spelt grain/ 20% malted wheat loaf. I forgot that spelt grain requires up to 25% less water, so it resulted in an overly-hydrated dough, making it difficult to work with and score. Photo No 2 shows the dough trying to break out in places of its own accord, which can happen when you don’t score properly. I’ve certainly had worse so not a big issue and the high hydration did make it a very light loaf for 40% wholegrain.

 

Lunch. That malted loaf went very nicely with roast chicken, hummus and some veggies.

 

LOL. You are putting me to shame pagbati, when can we move in?

Cheers, Steve.

 

Pumpkin/ Kalabasa/ Squash Pie. Our neighbour keeps bringing us kalabasa every time he returns from visiting his family farm; I dare say he’s cottoned on to the fact that he always gets a large slice of pie a day or two later.

Anyhow, no need to wait for thanksgiving/ autumn when kalabasa are available all year round here. This pie’s made using our standard shortcrust pastry and home made pumpkin spice. And yes, that dollop of cream just takes it to the next level.

 

Sadly I have not seen Pagbati around for a year or more and I do miss his input and culinary skills on this site. Hope he is well.

Cheers, Steve.