Baking Simple Scones at home is easy and very rewarding. Homemade scones are always a winner whatever time of year. But particularly pleasing enjoyed in front of the fire when the weather is disappointing.
For these tarts we are using two distinct types of apples. Bramley apple for full on flavour, backed up with a dash of good cider. Green apples, Granny Smiths of French Golden delicious provide texture and a hint of freshness to the tarts. These tarts can be made the night before and stored in the fridge. The trick is to glaze and seal the apple with melted butter and lemon to spot the apple discolouring.
How To Be A Shortbread Expert. There are thousands of recipes for shortbread, and an equal number of opinions as to the ingredients, methods, and baking. I suppose really you could think of shortbread as posh pastry, uplifted to celebrity status. The fundamentals of making shortbread are very like pastry and it would be worth reading our post on ‘Getting to grips with pastry.’ To put things into perspective.
The big barrier to getting crisp, light shortbread is gluten so a low protein plain flour, maximum 10% must be used. Shipton Mill do a nice Organic Soft Cake and Pastry White Flour with just over 9% protein.
This is a gluten free agent added into the flour to further reduce the protein in the flour and make it lighter.
Cornflour, always on hand and disappears into the flour perfectly. Use if you need a biscuit with a good snap Overdoing the quantity can make a dry powdery finish in the mouth.
Rice flour gives a rougher texture to the dough with a crumbly nature.
Ground almonds, make the dough crumblier, but also heavier. They also need a dash of almond essence to boost their flavour.
Some people like granulated sugar to give a gritty texture, but I’m not a fan.
Caster Sugar is a common choice and gives a good result. Golden caster offers a little more flavour in the dough.
Icing sugar is my preferred choice, unrefined sugar could also be used.
Use the best unsalted butter you can. The lower the water content of the butter the better the shortbread will be. While it may seem counter intuitive some chef’s lower quality use a pastry butter / margarine instead of superior quality dairy butter. This is because the pastry butter has an exceptionally low moisture content. The shortbread is crisper, but the flavour suffers.
True shortbread dough should be au natural, but I sometimes use a little vanilla to enhance the flavour of the butter. You could also add some chocolate chips or citrus zest if you like. Try sprinkling demerara sugar on the surface of the dough before cooking to add a sweet crunch.
Some small tweaks here to make the lightest shortbread. I use a two to one mix of plain flour and cornflour to really reduce the gluten content. I also like to add a touch of baking powder to help the dough rise in the oven and become airier. Finally, we use icing sugar to make a nice smooth dough. I like to roll the dough into logs and then slice the biscuits off (see below). This minimises stretching, and toughening the dough.
Here the rice flour helps lighten the dough. The texture of the rice flour is coarser, hence the ‘Sandy’ nature of the shortbread
This recipe uses ground almonds to reduce the gluten content of the flour. Along with the egg yolk this makes the shortbread richer abet slightly heavier.
Mix the butter icing sugar, vanilla, and salt (Unless you’re using salted butter) on low speed in the mixer until smooth. Increase the speed of the mixer to medium and cream the butter mix for three to four minutes. The mix should become soft and lighten.
Bring the speed of the mixer back to low and add the sifted flours mixing only just enough to incorporate the flour. Take extra care not to overwork the dough! It is better to finish the mixing of the dough by hand The lighter this is done the better the final shortbread will be.
Rollout the dough carefully dusting with a little flour as you go. Don’t be too vigorous with the rolling and turn the dough as you go. This will Roll the dough to the required thickness according to use and cut out with a cutter dipped in flour on each cut.
The remaining dough can be brought together once more then re rolled and cut again. Discard and dough left over from the second rolling.
If you can’t be bothered with all that rolling, and don’t mind slightly rustic biscuits there’s another option. Bring the dough together and split into two. Roll each dough into a log 4cm in diameter and wrap in greaseproof paper. Chill for 15 minutes, then slice into 1cm rounds.
Lay the biscuits out onto a baking sheet and prick with a fork. Leave to rest for about 15 minutes, use that time to heat up the oven read for baking. Bake the shortbread in the centre of the oven at 160° for roughly until light golden brown around the edges.
As the biscuits are removed from the oven dust with caster sugar and allow to cool before storage.
If you don’t have a food mixer you can make the dough in a food processor, or by hand. The processor makes a decent job of the creaming, but great care is needed not to overwork the dough when the flour is added. I would recommend using the processor just to cream the butter and sugar and then work in the flour by hand.
Yes, the best way of doing this is to carefully roll the dough into a log about 5cm in diameter. Wrap the log in greaseproof paper, then freeze on a tray. To bake, remove the cling film from the logs and slice into 5mm thick discs. Lay the biscuits out onto a baking tray, then place in the oven for around 8 minutes, until nicely golden brown.
I always do, but some people choose to use the rubbing in method. Mix the flour and sugar together then rub the cold diced butter in with your fingers or a pastry knife.
This will make a very crumbly shortbread with very little snap.
Easy, make the dough as described above. Line a rectangular baking tin with baking paper leaving a good overlap at the sides. Press the dough into the tin to a dept of 2cm than prick the dough all over with a fork. Leave the dough to rest for 15 minutes then bake as above. When cooked, remove from the oven, and let cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Then using the paper overlap, carefully lift the shortbread out onto a chopping board. Take a cook’s knife and using a guillotine like motion cut the shortbread into fingers. Let the shortbread cool completely before removing from the paper.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
© Copywrite, John Webber. 2024
© Copywrite, John Webber. 2024
These Italian delicate almond cookies with a melt in the mouth centre are usually enjoyed during Christmas time in Tuscany. Try them out as an alternative to or in addition to mince pies when entertaining guest over the holiday.
These Chocolate Custard Cookies are so easy to make, which is a good job as they don’t last long when people start tucking in. They are great just served as a cookie adults and children both love them.
This guide to Flour Types and uses will explain the difference between flours. How and why we use different types of flour and explain alternative types of flour available.
It’s is one of those ingredients we use all the time. But are we using the correct type of flour for the dish we are creating? Were not just talking white or brown here but what grain was used in its production. What are the characteristics of the flour we are using? Will it help us? Make things difficult, or just cause an absolute disaster.
Read on and we will aim to solve some of the mysteries. use this guide along with our pages on Making Bread at Home, and What is yeast.
For more flour facts look up fabflour.co.uk and flour.com
Well, what is flour? A type of flour can be made from many grains, beans, nuts, roots, or seeds. As long as they have enough starch content to allow us to grind them into flour.
Most of the time we are talking about wheat flour but there are many other options out there. For example, rye, spelt, cassava, arrowroot, corn, rice, chickpeas, potato, and nuts.
Each of these flours have there uses but as a baker our primary consideration is gluten. The gluten content of the flour provides strength and elasticity to a dough. While a high gluten content may be an advantage in making a perfect loaf. It would spoil our attempts at making perfect shortbread.
Gluten is formed when two proteins in the flour are hydrated and merged together. The higher the ratio of protein in the grains the more gluten can be formed in a dough. By stretching the gluten (kneading). We can strengthen its elasticity, allowing the dough to rise in the oven without breaking.
If you have ever wondered why your pastry shrinks back as you try to roll it out, it’s the gluten. The dough has been overworked. This toughens the gluten which like an elastic band is pulling back against been stretched. That’s why a lighter hand produces the best pastry and shortbread.
It’s important to use the correct flour for the job in hand. In British kitchens we refer to cake flour, plain flour, and strong flour. This is simply a useful reference to the amount of protein in the flour.
Cake Flour. 8-9% protein. Not that easy to find now, most people use plain flour as a replacement. If you want to try it out add roughly 15% cornflour to plain flour and sift together. Semolina or rice flour can also be used for a coarser texture. This is quite a common technique in making shortbread.
Plain Flour, 10-12% protein. Readily available and possible the most common flour found at home. Self-Raising flour is simply plain flour with chemical raising agents added.
Strong Flour, 12-16% More commonly used for bread or leavened products. We will cover this in more detail with a later post on bread making.
The everyday flour you will use. This is made by crushing the kernel of the wheat to make flour. The flour is then sieved to remove the outer layers. This process removes flavour from the flour. But been so fine allows for better gluten development.
Most flour is produced on a roller mill which is very efficient keeping costs down. Some flour is still produced by stoneground milling where two millstones are used to crush the grains. This is less aggressive than a rolled mill. And more of the nutrients are retained within the flour and have a better flavour.
This is flour which contains 100% of the kernel, endosperm, germ, and bran. The bran content produces a coarser texture that white flour. As most of the nutrients in the grain are in the bran the flour is more nutritious than white flour.
Similar to above but brown flour will contain less bran and may not contain any germ. This will produce a smother, and lighter dough than wholemeal flour.
One of the best flavoured flours for baking bread. Rye is a grass (like wheat) and has a rich fruity flavour. Bread made with rye flour don’t need as much working as with white flour. This means less work, and a shorter production time.
Basically, an intermediate process in the flour production. Semolina is the coarsely ground endosperm of wheat. This can be found both coarse and fine milled grades. Soft wheat versions are used cooked as a dessert. The classic Durum wheat version been used for the production of pasta and breads.
Durum Wheat produces a high gluten content flour that is difficult to turn into fine flour. And is more commonly found in a semolina version.
The French and Italians use a grading system to describe their flour. The French have a ‘T, number attached to regulate the ash content of the flour. T110 is a brown flour and as the numbers go down so does the flour’s ash content. This makes the flour finer and whiter. T55 been a common grade to use in kitchens. The flour will be named according to its purpose. So in a French bakery you will see sacks of flour marked croissant, baguette, etc
The Italians again tend to name their flours but grade them differently according to milling and bran content.
000, very fine flour.
00, fine flour.
0, medium fine flour
Tipo 1, a coarse grade
Tipo 2, very coarse flour
Farina almost straight from the mill, a wholemeal flour.
00 flour is the version banded about on the media and is really an all-purpose flour.
Gluten free almond flour is basically very finely ground almonds. It is possible to make at home by blanching and peeling the almonds. Then dry them off and grind in a food processor.
Chickpea flour is made as you might suspect from chickpeas.
It’s an extremely useful flour with a mild and slightly sweet flavour. It has both a high protein and fibre content and is very useful as a gluten free alternative.
Commonly used to thicken sauces this is made from whole corn kernels, and is gluten free
It can also be mixed with wheat flours to reduce the protein content of the flour in pastry, shortbread, and cakes.
As the name may suggest, arrowroot flour is made with the starch of the root of the arrow, a type of tuber.
Mainly used to thicken dishes it gives a clearer, glossier finish that cornflour. It is very low in protein and again gluten free.
Nutritionally it is very high in carbohydrates with minimal amounts of fat and protein.
Not In common use, but with a sweet nutty taste can but used to make breads, muffins, flatbreads, and pastries. Naturally gluten free it is commonly mixed with other flour.
Buckwheat flour is ground from buckwheat seeds which are actually a herb. The resulting flour with its earthy flavour is both healthy and again gluten free.
Oat flour is a whole grain flour made from oats. Once more the flour is gluten free, (see tips below) Great mixed with other flours and easy to make at home.
Yet another gluten free flour, Cassava flour comes from a starchy tuber called cassava, and it has a nutty and savoury taste.
Great for desserts, cakes, and pastries this is a very starchy flour with a sweet flavour. While not as well-known as other flours it is gaining in popularity and is a feature of some Italian cooking.
A good tip when making a wholemeal loaf is to remove the bran with a fine sieve and set it aside while making the dough. This stops the shards of bran cutting into the dough, which makes gluten development harder. Once the dough has had its initial development the bran can be added back in or dusted on top. So, you still get enjoy the extra flavour and texture of wholemeal flour.
Wholemeal and rye flour have a wonderful flavour, but the bread can be heavy textured and difficult to cut. Adding a proportion of white bread flour to the recipe will give structure and lift to the dough.
Baking with rye flour? It makes great bread however it is very sticky and can be difficult to handle.
The best solution to this is to wet your hands and tools with cold water, before handling the dough. This will allow the dough to slide off and not stick.
When using nut-based flours remember to check for nut allergies with your guests.
Use semolina or polenta as a dusting agent when rolling out the dough. When baked you will have a crisp, sandy crust.
Remember not to make your dough too dry when bread making. A dry dough will be difficult to knead and will inhibit the creation of gluten.
As you will have seen there are a number of Gluten free flours available to us. But beware! Just because the product used to make the flour is in itself, gluten free be careful. It may have become cross contaminated in production or packaging. Be careful to check that the product is certified gluten free before serving to anybody on a gluten free diet.
Enjoy Life!.
John.
©John Webber. 2023
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These homemade Welsh Cakes are easy to make and are a great addition to an afternoon tea spread. They are a variation of a griddle scone and shortbread, lightly spiced and finished with a coating of sugar.
Delicious, mango and coconut cream tarts. Great for entertaining. Light,crisp almond pastry filled with fresh mango and coconut cream.
Learn the technique of making small crisp tart shells using perforated rings. Great for entertaining with a variety of fillings.
The festive period looms and it’s time to begin thinking about my Christmas Mince Pies and organising things to make the period as enjoyable and stress free as possible. And it’s particularly time for me to think about this year’s cranberry and whisky luxury mince pies. A bit of Christmas luxury perfect for entertaining with friends or as an indulgent treat. I need to get moving as our village craft fair takes place in a couple of weeks and a few of us chip in to provide treats and man the cake stall.
This is a rich cooked mincemeat for Christmas. It was first developed for a project in manufacturing mince pies for a butcher friend of mine some time ago. We made just over 250 and as I remember, and they all sold. At that time, we were also developing a range or real sausages and charcutier. I’ll cover some of this next year along with some smoked and BBQ items.
Originally the mincemeat of old actually contained real meat. The spices and flavourings were used to conceal the slightly ‘off’ nature of the leftover cooked meat before any form of cold storage existed. Today the only remaining nod to this is suet in the mincemeat mix.
While most of this is now vegetable based rather than beef it can still leave a greasy finish in the mouth if its overdone. This recipe uses butter in place of the suet to give a richer, smoother mouth feel to the filling. Heating the dried fruits in orange juice gives the fruit a chance to rehydrate, become tender and take on the flavour of the spices.
Makes 30 -40 small pies
120g unsalted butter
Finely grated zest of a large orange
250ml orange juice
255g soft light brown sugar
2 ½ tsp mixed spice
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
140g grated bramley apples
70g chopped walnuts or pecans
130g sultanas
130g raisins
100g dried cranberries
60g mixed peel
50ml blended whisky
Take a large enough pan to take all the ingredients and be able to give the pan good mix together without losing any over the sides. Add all the dried fruit to the pan together with the spices, and salt.
Using a very fine grater remove the zest of the orange then remove the juice and make it up to 250ml using more fruit if needed. Add the juice and zest to the pan and bring to the simmer.
While the fruit is cooking, wash and coarsely grate the apple there’s no need to peel the fruit. Once the pan has been simmering for about five minutes add the apple, chopped nuts, and sugar to the pan.
Give everything a really good mix and simmer for another 10 to 12 minutes. The aromas of Christmas should now be filling the kitchen. We need to evaporate most of the orange juice into the dried fruits. To check if everything is ready pull the flat base of a silicone spatula across the base of the pan. If the gap fills with liquid immediately let the pan cook a little longer. When ready, lift the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool down until just warm.
Pop the butter into a small saucepan and place on the heat. Bring the butter to the boil and let it simmer for a minute or two. Skim off any scum that appears on the surface of the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and let the butter stand to sperate out the fat from the milky whey.
Once the butter has cooled but is not solidifying, remove any remaining scum and begin to decant the clear butterfat into the pan mixing it in as you do so. Use a small sieve if you have one, to catch any remaining scum. Make sure you fold the butter in well getting right down to bottom of the pan and lifting the mixture up so all the ingredients are coated in the butter.
Let the pan cool completely stirring from time to time. We need to insure the butter in mixed evenly through the mincemeat. If the mix is too warm or not folded in completely the butter fat will simply float to the surface on the mincemeat.
Stir in the whisky remembering to inhale as you do so, then transfer the mincemeat to a clean sterilised preserving jars or suitable container. 2 x ½ lt Kilner jars should be plenty. Cover the surface of the mincemeat with a disc of greaseproof paper, seal the lid. Place the jars into the fridge for at least a week to mature before making the pies.
If you wish the pastry can be made at the same time and frozen until needed.
80g caster sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Take a small container with a tight-fitting lid. Add the sugar and cinnamon, pop on the lid and shake well. Store in a cool dry place until needed.
500g plain flour
125g butter
125g lard
Pinch salt
50g caster sugar
¾ tsp baking powder
125ml icy cold water
Cinnamon sugar to dust over
Makes roughly 15-20 small pies
Oven temperature 180˚c – 185˚c
Cooking time 14 to 17 minutes
This is almost a savoury pastry which might seem a little strange to some of you. The filling is packed with sugar, spices and fruit and wrapping this in a sweet pastry would just be overkill. We are also using a mixture of lard and butter for the fat content and baking powder in the dough wish will produce a very flaky light pastry. Go to the Food Files and have a look at Getting to Grips with Pastry to get an insight into pastry making.
Dice the lard and butter then return to the fridge to firm up
Place all the dry ingredients into a cold bowl the add the butter and lard. Cut the fats into the flour using a pastry knife and blend until a fine breadcrumb stage appears. Have a scraper on hand to clear the knife from time to time and make the process as easy as possible. When your mixture is ready add the water in two or three batches mixing each one in before adding the next.
Tip the contents of the bowl out onto the work surface and bring together to a pliable smooth dough. Keep everything cool and take care not to over work the dough. Only use the water you need to get the right consistency.
You can of course use a tabletop mixer you can make this pastry by hand. It does take some time to get the flour and fat to a breadcrumb stage and I think making it by hand with a pastry knife gives the best results as its less likely to be overworked.
Whatever way you make the pastry it must rest in the fridge for 1-2 hours. So simple cover in cling film and refrigerate.
When you are ready to make the mince pies remove the mincemeat from the fridge and stir in a bit more whisky if you wish.
When the pastry is thoroughly rested divide the dough into 4 pieces. Lightly flour your work surface and roll the pastry out to around 3-4mm thick. Using a fluted pastry cutter, a bit larger than the moulds you are using, (small Yorkshire pudding tins are perfect) cut out and line the moulds rings, fill with your mincemeat, and cut another disc as a lid and lay it on top of the mincemeat tucking in the edges. Using the point of a knife make a small cross in the centre of each lid to allow stream to escape.
Sprinkle the lids with a pinch of cinnamon sugar and bake in a 185˚c (fan oven) 210˚c (conventional oven) for roughly 14-17 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let stand for five minutes then lift from the baking tray and sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar, let them cool a little more before serving as the filling will be too hot to eat.
If making the pies in advance warm gently before serving to get the best flavour and texture. You can be traditional and serve with brandy butter if you wish, but I prefer a dollop of creme’ fraiche on top.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
All you need to know about _Eggs. Learn about the egg itself. what each part of an egg can do, and how we can use it in our cooking.
Demystifying Perfect Pastry provides an insight into the ingredients and methods of making basic pastry.
