Many irish baking recipes use "Cream" flour - this is unheard of outside Ireland and often leaves one heading straight for Google to find out exactly what type of flour it is.
Well Cream Flour is simply the name by which Odlums brand their plain flour - clever marketing by Odlums eh?
so "cream" = plain = general purpose flour.
Showing posts with label Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tips. Show all posts
Softer Crust - Part II
How to achieve that elusive soft crust on home baked bread
Previously I wrote about tips and tricks to ensure that homemade bread (Irish brown bread in particular) doesn't suffer from an overly hard crust. The adding of Oil and wrapping the bread in a tea-towel both help.Recently I read that adding an egg would also help so I tried it last night.
Success ! This morning's bread is pretty much my best ever - here what I did:-
- Followed my basic Brown Bread Recipe
- Added two tablespoons Olive Oil
- Added one egg
- Lightly beat the egg and oil together before adding with the milk
- When finished baking, wrapped the bread in tea towel and allowed to cool
Flighing Stress / Six Foods to Eat
Alter your diet and fight stress
Six Foods to eat more of:-- Bananas
- Leafy greens
- Oily fish such as Mackeral
- Nuts
- Mangos
- Avocado
Portion Sizes
Too much?
Like almost al of the developed world, the number of overweight and obese people in Ireland is continuing to increase. This is partly because we have become less active and eat too much of the wrong types of food.
Portion sizes becoming bigger than they used to be. Some examples are obvious, like popcorn at the cinema or the supersize options in fast-food restaurants. But the truth is that even the sandwiches we buy at lunch-time and the meals we cook at home are often larger than they need to be. Here are a few tips to help you eat the right sized portions:
- Leave a little room in your stomach when you eat. Filling your stomach means you’re eating too much. Eat slowly, and stop when you start to feel full
- Make some little food swaps - small changes really can make a big difference. Here are some ideas to get you started. But have a think about your own diet and what other changes you could make yourself:
- Switch from a white baguette with cheddar cheese, rashers, lettuce and coleslaw to a brown bread sandwich with ham, lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes
- Switch from a large Danish pastry to a scone for breakfast
- Switch from a thin-crust, cheese-loaded pizza to a thicker-based pizza with more veggies and less cheese. Or better still, make your own!
- Switch from a large, full-fat cappuccino to a small, reduced-fat option
- Switch from a side portion of chips to a smaller portion of oven chips or homemade wedges
Thick & Creamy Yoghurt
Tip for thickening home-made yoghurt
Home-made yoghurt, yum, it's so easy and good for you. I have already written and instructions on how to make you own yoghurt. Sometimes, though, it's not as thick as store bought yoghurt. Fear not! Don't panic if your yoghurt is a tad thin or runny - use this easy tip to thicken your home made yoghurt.Ingredients:
- Home Made Natural Yoghurt
- Muslin
- A Strainer
Very simply, the yoghurt can be thickened by draining off some of the excess liquid. Line a strainer with muslin (or strong kitchen paper [if you use kitchen paper, don't use one with colours or scents]) and pour the yoghurt in. Allow to sit for about an hour - the excess liquid will drain through the muslin leaving a thicker yoghurt behind.
The longer you leave it, the thicker it will get. When you have your desired thickness, spoon the yoghurt into an airtight container and return to the fridge.
I'm not sure, yet, what you do with the liquid that has drained off. I'm sure there must be a use for it, and will post again when I've found one. Leave a comment if you have a suggestion.
NOTE: Whilst I've concentrated on thickening home-made yoghurt, this will work just as well with any shop-bought rubbish :)
Bread Soda (again)
How to tell if Bread Soda is active
I recently had the misfortune of a recipe not producing the expected outcome. A Brown Scone recipe from a well known source used Bread Soda and Greek Yoghurt as the raising agents. Interesting I thought, but alas it didn't work out well - the scones tasted okay but well flat & dense.So, I was left wondering, Is my Bread Soda gone off?
I decided to test it; easier than you think and very quick. The chemical reaction we're looking for from a raising agent is air - mix the raising agents together and you should get air... bubbles to be precise. So, here's the test.
Directions:
Start with a clean glass - best to use a glass as you can check exactly what's going on. Add a teaspoon of Bread Soda and a tablespoon of vinegar. If you get an instant froth then your Bread Soda is okay, if not, ditch it and buy yourself a new box.
For a softer crust (Soda Bread)
A few tips on baking bread to get that elusive soft crust
These tips are, for the most part, aimed at soda bread recipes (white, brown, treacle, railway cake etc) although you can use this tip for any type of bread really.
- Add a tablespoon of Oil to buttermilk - you can also make this a health benefit!
- When the bread is ready, remove it from the oven and wrap the bread in a tea-towel or cloth and allow to cool on a wire rack. The heat releases slowly through the cloth and softens the crust.
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Alternative to Buttermilk
What can you use instead of buttermilk?
Tonight I'm planing on trying a buttermilk alternate - Bextartar - in my Brown Soda Bread recipe. The Bextartar works by provided the acidic reaction with the alkaline Bread Soda so as to rise the dough - let's see tonight how it works and tastes. The full report tomorrow.Update: Bextartar is a brand name; the generic name is Cream of Tartar; when Bread Soda and Cream of Tartar powders are mixed you get Baking Power, a raising agent. In the recipes I use the mixture is 1 teaspoon of bread Soda and 2 teaspoons of cream of Tartar for each 1lb of flour.
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Scones / Tips
Scones are easy to make but there are a few things you can do to make them even better....
The secret of success:
Use a large wide bowl.
Sieve the flour at least once. Use butter, it makes all the difference to the flavour. Rub the butter in coarsely. If the shortening is rubbed in too finely the scones will be dense and heavy. Resist the temptation to use a food processor, even though its fast - the scones will be close and leaden.
Add all the liquid at once and mix quickly in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl, in ever increasing concentric circles. When you get to the outside of the bowl (a matter of seconds), the scone dough is made.
Handle gently, don’t knead, just tidy and roll or pat into a round or square, stamp out as many scones as possible first time, re-rolled dough always results in tougher scones.
Roll or pat to one inch thick, this really matters. If the dough is too thick, the scones will be cooked on top and underneath but still doughy in the centre, or they may topple over while baking.
If the dough is rolled too thinly, the proportion will be wrong - too much crust and not enough crumb. Put immediately into a fully preheated oven and bake.
Cool the scones on a wire rack as soon as they are baked. Freshly baked scones are best.
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