Astonishing salt, no other ingredient I know has had a greater effect on cooking and the kitchen. We need it to live, but an excess is bad for us and may even kill us!
So why do we have a love affair with it? And what does it actually do? Read on and I’ll do my best to explain.
Baking your own Bread at home can be a puzzle, let us help you answer your questions. All you need to know to bake great bread at home is here.
These Buttermilk Bread Rolls will really impress your dinner party guests. They go well with most starters that don’t require crispy rolls served alongside.
These rolls are formed with leaves of dough layered with butter. In the oven the leaves swell and open out like a flower. Individual leaves can be torn off the roll and eaten as they are or can be spread with any savoury mousse or pateˊ.
No special equipment is needed, and as long as you can roll out a dough, you can make these rolls. Have a look at our Making Bread at Home pages in the food files to see how easy it is to make your own breads
I’m using fast action yeast here so we can make the dough by the straight dough method.
Mix the flour, bi-carb and salt together in a bowl. Fold in the dried yeast taking care it doesn’t get into direct contact with the salt.
Make a well in the flour the pour the buttermilk and honey into the well.
Don’t worry about the butter, we are going to that later.
Bring the dough together, tip it out onto the rolling mat and knead for five minutes. Clean out the bowl, rub it inside with a little vegetable oil then return the ball of dough to the bowl.
Proving the dough.
Cover the dough with cling film, and leave the dough in a draft free place until doubled in size.
Put the butter into a small pan and gently melt. We want the butter to be just liquid not separated out. Alternatively pop the butter into a small bowl and stand the bowl in warm water until melted.
Turn the dough out onto the mat once more and kneed three or four times.
There is no need to kneed this dough much. We want the dough to be light and airy.
Lightly flour the mat then roll out the dough. The aim is to create a rectangle of dough until approximately 6-8mm thick. If the doughs not behaving itself. Let it rest covered with a cloth for five minutes then gently pull the dough into shape with your fingers. You can finish the rolling with the pin.
Brush the surface of the dough liberally with the melted butter. Add the 30g of butter to the pan and use this to grease the baking tray.
Using a pizza wheel cut the dough into approximately 6cm wide strips and then cut these strips across giving approximately 9cm inch by 6cm rectangles. The dough should separate easily, but be carful not to cut into the rolling mat or your table.
Using a scotch scraper or pallet knife pick up a rectangle of dough and place it on the top of another. Pick up another rectangle and place it carefully on the stack. Keep going until you have a stack of rectangles five strips tail.
Keep repeating this until you have used all the dough and made ………
Lift one end of a stack with the tips of your fingers and crimp one of the narrow sides of the dough together. Lift the stack and set into the Muffin tray with the crimped end down at the bottom of the depression.
It is essential during this operation to take great care not to seal the sides or top of the rolls the individual leaves of dough should open up during the second proving and crispen up during baking to produce a light roll in which the individual leaves may be broken off.
Leave the tray to stand in a draft free place until the rolls have roughly doubled in size. And the leaves of dough are starting to separate.
Bake the rolls in the tray in a 200˚c oven for 10-l5 minutes. The leaves of the dough should open up and take on a golden-brown colour.
When ready remove the tray from the oven and let the rolls cool in the tray for 10 minutes before attempting to remove them.
Serve warm with plenty of unsalted butter.
You need small terracotta flower pots which need to be sealed in the oven.
Wash the pots and dry them in a low oven. Increase the heat of the oven to 180˚c then brush the inside of the pots with vegetable oil. Return the pots to the oven and bake for an hour brushing the inside of the pots with move oil every 15 minutes.
When done remove them from the oven and let cool, the pots can now be used repeatedly just with a light greasing before filling. Don’t wash the pots after use, just wipe out with a damp cloth.
Yes if butter milk is unobtainable try using 550ml of plain yoghurt with 50ml of milk whisked in.
If you want to give the rolls a more savoury aroma add a bruised clove of garlic and some thyme or rosemary to the butter as it melts. You can also sprinkle chopped herbs between the layers of dough as you from the rolls. Keep the herbs towards the bottom of the rolls where they are less likely to burn in the oven.
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
Home-Made Sausages are one of the most flexible foods we have available to us. Whether it’s a comforting plate of bangers and mash, fending off the cold weather. A quick buttered sausage roll as a snack or the compulsory BBQ sausage, it’s a year round go to treat.
Homemade Focaccia bread is a joy and very versatile. It’s sure to become a family favourite, and a great accompaniment to a BBQ or picnic.
Rich, and delicious, Walnut Bread is a perfect bread to serve with cheese at a casual lunch. Or as part of a dinner party meal. Savoury yet sweet it’s very moreish and is just as good lightly toasted and served with butter.
If you’re not familiar with making bread. Read our page on Making Bread at Home for all the information and tips you need to make your own great bread.
2tsp – 7g dried yeast
3 tbsp water at blood heat
Good pinch flour
330g granary flour
½ tsp- 3g Salt
45g unsalted butter
25g dark brown sugar
190ml milk at blood heat
60g chopped walnuts
60g sultanas
2 x 1lb loaf tins with liners
Mixing bowl or mixing machine
Small saucepan
Bowl for the milk
A fine sieve
Small bowl for the ferment
Measuring spoons
Chopping board and knife
This is a complex bread enriched with brown sugar, sultanas, and walnuts. All of this can be a struggle for the yeast to cope with, so a ferment is used to help the bread prove. Look up our post on ‘What is Yeast a baker’s guide’ to get the lowdown on how to use yeast and get the best from it.
Put the flour into a clean mixing bowl and add the salt. Mix the yeast with the lukewarm water in a small bowl add a good pinch of flour stir in and leave to stand for 15-20 minutes. The contents of the bowl should be light and bubbly when ready for use.
To enhance the ‘nutty’ flavour of the bread we are going to toast the butter and make nut brown butter. The French term for this is ‘Beurre Noisette which is commonly used at a dressing for fish, pasta, and vegetables.
Before you start whisk the milk and sugar together in a small bowl. Have a small fine sieve ready and keep both to hand.
Dice the butter and pop into a small saucepan. Place the pan over a medium heat and watch it closely. This will need your undivided attention. You can go from Beurre Noisette to Beurre Noir (black butter) very quickly.
Watch the pan like a hawk. The butter will begin to foam and make a crackling sound as the moisture is driven off. After a couple of minutes, the foaming will slow down the noise from the pan become quieter. You are now seconds away from been ready. The butter will start to become golden brown with a light crust on the surface.
Immediately strain the butter through the fine sieve into the milk and stir well.
If you think the butter has gone too far DON’T put into the milk. You will just waste everything. Get some fresh butter and have another go. Don’t worry once you have mastered it its quite straightforward.
Put the flour and salt into a mixing bowl with the dough hook attached and mix on a slow speed. Pour the milk and butter mixture into the flour a little at a time. Then add the ferment water which should now be actively bubbling with yeast.
Mix on a low speed for 10 minutes to stretch the dough after which it should be soft and elastic.
Roughly chop the walnuts and add them to the dough with the sultanas.
Remove the dough hook then cover the bowl with a cloth leave in a warm place (about 25°C/75°F) for the dough to rise. This will take about 1 hour.
Tip the dough out onto the work surface and ‘knock back, the dough. Do this by punching it with the heel of your hand 2 or 3 times; this will release some of the gases in the dough. Then fold the dough over three or four times to spread the yeast cells through the dough.
Roll out the dough into a long sausage shape and divide into 2 pieces. Place the dough ‘sausages’ in the lined tins and cover with a tea towel. leave the tins in a warm, draught-free place to ‘prove’ for about 45 minutes. When ready the loaves should have almost doubled in size.
Alternatively, the dough can be formed into small loaves on a baking sheet.
Bake the bread in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
When baked turn the loaves out of the tins onto a wire rack to cool completely before use. Use within three days or freeze for later use.
A packet fast action yeast can be used instead of the dried yeast if wished.
To add even more flavour, try the addition of ½ tsp of chopped fresh rosemary leaves into the dough.
Do give this bread a try. I guarantee once you have, it will become a regular treat.
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
This baker’s guide to yeast will explain all you need to know about using yeast.
Learn the different types of yeast available and how to use them to get the best results in your bread and baking
Make these easy soda breads at home. It’s so satisfying and rewarding everybody should be doing it.
How many times have you put a pan on the hob to cook vegetables let’s say, without thinking of what’s happening to, or what’s best for the food you are cooking? I’m guessing not often. Boiling, poaching, simmering – but what’s the difference? Not a lot you may think. But understanding but the application of wet heat is one of the most misunderstood methods of cookery.
Water boils at 100°c and boiling is unmistakable. The water bubbles vigorously and steam rises from the pan. Now try turning up the heat, the water will bubble faster, and more steam is produced causing the water to evaporate and the level of the water in the pan to drop. However, the water does not get any hotter all you are doing is bashing and stressing anything you are trying to cook in the pan.
Simple – well not that simple, the temperature of the water can be raised by increasing the pressure of the atmosphere around the water. This is exactly how a pressure cooker manages to cook more efficiently and reduce cooking time. Likewise, the boiling temperature will be reduced if the pressure is lower. If you have every wondered why the tea is never good in a plane, now you know.
Think about what you are cooking and how the heat in the liquid will affect the food. So much food especially fish is ruined by poaching at too high a temperature. I always use a Probe Thermometer to simplify the process and confirm you have the correct temperature for your purpose.
Sterilising utensils and storage jars – see The Golden Rules of Home Preserving
Green vegetables need to go into rapidly boiling water. By adding salt to the water, we increase the temperature slightly helping to retain colour and nutrients. This can be followed by plunging the vegetables into iced water to stop the cooking and set the colour (known as blanching). The vegetable can then be gently heated when required simplifying serving the meal. Place a lid on the pan after adding the vegetables but remove it as soon as the water returns to the boil. Green vegetables give off an acidy gas when heated. Which if recycled back into the water can spoil the colour of the vegetables.
Cooking pasta. The rapid movement of the water helps separate the pasta and helps prevent it sticking to each other. The high heat also forms a skin on the paste to prevent it disintegrating in the pan.
Often following boiling, to continue the cooking without breaking up the product. When cooking main crop potatoes as soon as they boil reduce the heat and simmer gently. If your spuds always break up in the pan, you’re a slave to the boil. Also used to allow a larger item of food to cook through without drying out.
Possibly the most misunderstood and badly executed methods of cooking. Critical for the successful cooking of fish and producing the best poached egg. Plenty of energy to cook the foods without drying out and toughening the protein.
Recognisable by small bubbles forming in the liquid then rising and falling. A small amount of steam may also be visible.
Here the food is suspended above boiling liquid to apply a more gentle heat. The heat of the steam itself depends on how well the cooking container is sealed. Under pressure the steam can reach well over 100˚c often used to cook more delicate foods like fish or broccoli.
In the case of boiling the cooking liquid is most commonly water. In the case of Simmering, Poaching, and steaming a flavoured liquid can be used. When cooking fish, it may be poached in a white wine stock. A medium known as a Court Bouillon (aromatic vegetables, herbs, water salt and a dash of vinegar). Is used to cook oily fish like salmon.
Adding a few herbs and spices to the water used to steam food will enhance the flavour of the food been cooked.
So next time you are cooking something in a liquid, give some thought to the food you are cooking, and how you want it to cook. Your, food will all the better for it!
The article explains how to portion a whole chicken, providing detailed, step-by-step instructions. It emphasizes the benefits of working with a whole free-range bird, including better flavor, cost savings, and the ability to create stock. The guide also highlights important hygiene practices while preparing the chicken for various dishes.
Make your own ghee at home. It’s easy to do and very versatile. You will get better quality for less money.
These basic Indian flavouring pastes take minutes to prepare and can be frozen or refrigerated to last you for weeks. Ginger- Garlic paste is a must have in the kitchen to make a professional curry without the fuss. Ginger paste and Chilli paste are both ideal for enhancing and giving added depth to your spiced dishes.
You can of course buy most of these, but they will be full of preservatives and will lack the vibrance of homemade versions. The best storage for these pastes is to freeze them in blocks. I use ice cube trays which make blocks of 2tbsp which is a handy size for most people. Once frozen the blocks can be emptied out of the trays into freezer bags and labelled. Make sure to read our post on Indian Onion Pastes to complete the picture and be ready to make some great curries.
300g Peeled Root Ginger (chopped or grated)
30ml Water
For ease of preparation and economy choose large pieces of ginger without many knobbly bits. To get the best from these pastes wait until the shop gets a fresh delivery of roots in, the fresher the better. Trim off any dark pieced then peel the ginger with a spoon. No, that’s not a typo, scraping the skin off the root with the edge of an old dessert spoon is the quickest, safest, and most economic way to peel ginger
Chop the roots into small pieces then pop into the food processor. Blend the water and ginger together to a smooth paste and freeze until required.
You may notice I am using water here to blend the paste rather than oil which appears in the next recipes. The reason for this is the pastes below will general be cooked in or added to a savoury dish. By using water here this paste could equally find its way into a dessert such as a steamed pudding or cake.
100g Peeled Ginger Root
100g Peeled garlic
20-30ml Vegetable oil
Peel the ginger as outlined above and roughly chop. Blend the oil, ginger, and garlic together to a smooth paste and freeze until required.
The paste may also be stored in the fridge in a sealed container in the fridge by adding 1tsp lemon juice to the mix and covering the surface of the paste with a thin layer of vegetable oil.
10 Green Chillies
2tsp Vegetable Oil
¼ tsp salt
Trim the stem of the chillies then cut them in half long ways and remove the seeds and central core. Coarsely chop the chilli flesh then blend to a paste with the oil, salt, and water.
While we call this a ‘paste’ you will find its actually very small pieces of chilli that will disappear when used in a curry. And while we’re taking Indian cooking here this paste would be equally useful to lift a Thai dish or dip.
The best way to store the paste is to freeze it. I use a silicone ice cube tray which makes 1cm cubes so I can add the chilli to a dish in small amounts.
You can make all the above in just a couple of hours and have a bundle of flavour sitting in your freezer ready for use. I would use three months as a ‘use by guide’ to storage but I bet once you get into using these they won’t hang around that long.
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.