Sourdough fig and goat's cheese scones

Ingredients

• 100g sourdough starter (100% hydration) (optional)
• 350g self-raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 85g cubed butter
• 50g dried figs cut into pieces
• 50g grated cheese
• 175ml warm milk (with a squeeze lemon juice)

Method

• Heat the oven to 220C (no fan)/200C (fan).
• In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and rub with your fingers until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the sugar.
• Make a well in the flour, add the warm milk and the sourdough (if using), and mix with a cutlery knife. Add the figs and cheese and mix them in. Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and fold it two to three times.
• Pat the dough into a round about 4cm high, and cut the scones (8 to 10). Brush the tops of the scones with beaten egg or milk, and transfer to a hot tray.
• Bake until risen and golden on the top, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Lemon Polenta Cake

And finally, here's the recipe of the winner cake of the Great DDH Bake Off 2012. Enjoy!!

See the delicious polenta cake
at the bottom right of the picture

Ingredients

For the cake

• 200 grams unsalted butter (or goats butter if you are Elena or equivalent)
• 200 grams caster sugar
• 200 grams ground almonds
• 100 grams polenta
• 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 medium eggs
• 2 medium lemon(s) (zest - save juice for syrup)

For the lemon syrup

• 2 lemons (juice)
• 120 grams of sugar (icing or caster)

 Preparation

1. First of all, preheat the oven 180°C (fan)
2. Prepare a cake tin with baking paper and grease its sides with some butter
3. Melt the butter and mix it with the sugar in a bowl. You can use a wooden spoon for this.
4. Add the baking powder, the polenta and the almonds and keep mixing. Finally, add the 3 eggs and the lemons zest and mix again.
5. Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes
6. In the meantime, you can make the lemon syrup by boiling the lemon juice of two lemons and the sugar in a small saucepan.
7. Once the sugar is dissolved into the juice, the syrup is ready.
8. When the cake is done, prick the top of the cake all over with a toothpick and pour the warm syrup over it. Leave to cool before taking it out from the cake tin.
9. Share, eat and enjoy!

 

Sourdough flatbreads with mixed herbs

Ingredients

• 200g starter (100% hydration)
• 200g water
• 400g strong bread flour
• 1tsp salt
• 2tbsp oil
• 3tsp mixed herbs (optional)

Method

• Mix all the ingredients together until you have a soft sticky dough. Cover and leave for 10 minutes.
• Rub a tablespoon of olive oil on a work surface, and knead the dough 12 times. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave for 10 minutes. Repeat the kneading two times more at 10 minutes intervals.
• After the kneading rest the dough for 30 minutes.
• Heat the oven to 250C (no fan).
• Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into pieces (8 to 10). Round the pieces into balls, cover them and leave them to rest for 15 minutes.
• Roll each ball into a round shape until it is about 5mm thick. Leave them to rest for 2 minutes.
• Bake two to three flatbreads at a time for 3 to 5 mites, until lightly coloured and puffy. Remove from the oven and wrap with a tea towel to keep them warm and soft. Repeat with the remaining flatbreads.

This recipe was a adapted from a pitta bread recipe by Dan Lepard.

Some photos of the Bake Off

Hard at work creating the pastry 

Instruction in whisking techniques

The most vital job of the day being done valiantly

There's always one...

Somebody wanted to join in

The tongue of concentration

Observing the master at work

Industrious kitchen

Is it nearly ready yet?

Sampling the fruits of our labours!

Hazelnut tarte

The recipe is for a tin of 20cm of diameter.

The pie-pastry:

• 100g of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 50g of butter
• 0,4-0,5 dl of water

The filling:

• 1 1/2 cup of hazelnuts
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 small cup of milk
• 1 egg

The icing:

• 150g of icing sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1-2 tablespoons of hot water
• (if wanted, add some rum or kirsch)

Methode:
- Mix the ingredients for the pastry in a bowl and knit until  the pastry is homogeneous. Then flat it on a circle to fit the tin and transfer it to the tin, using baking parchment if necessary.
- Mix the ingredients for the filling in a bowl and fill the tin with it by adding the filling on top of the pastry.
-Cook for about 20-30 min. at 180°  in a preheated oven.
-When cooked, add the icing, which has been mix in a bowl, and spread it over the pie and let the pie cool down.

ENJOY!

Oat and cherry biscuits

I used sour cherries for this recipe, but you can used glacé cherries to make a sweeter biscuit (there's plenty of sugar in any case, so the sour cherries were very tasty).  Here they're in the tin with Elena's delicious biscotti:

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup sour cherries or glacé cherries

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 C. Line (at least) two baking sheets with baking parchment (we ended up using four!).
• In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and nutmeg, then set aside. Place butter, sugar, and honey in another bowl and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy (a few minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat together. Gently and gradually add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Stir in the oats and cherries.
• Drop one tablespoon of dough at a time onto the baking sheets (making sure there are at least two inches, ideally slightly more, between each biscuit).  Push them down slightly if necessary to get a better shape.  Bake until lightly golden brown (10 to 12 minutes).  Allow to cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

  Here they are on their way to the oven...

Banana and walnut cake

You can use a different type of nut (e.g. hazelnuts) for this banana cake, but it works really well with walnuts.

Ingredients

• 175g/6oz softened butter
• 175g/6oz sugar (half muscovado, half golden caster)
• 75g/2½oz walnuts
• 2 eggs
• 175g/6oz self-raising flour
• 2 VERY ripe bananas (the browner the better!)
• 1 drop vanilla extract
• A sprinkle of demerera sugar for the top

Method

• Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas Mk 3. Line the base and sides of a loaf tin with baking parchment.
• Beat the butter and sugars together until light.
• Slowly add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture, then mix in the walnuts and self-raising flour.
• Peel the bananas and chop them into small pieces. Gently fold the vanilla extract and the bananas into the cake mixture, turning gently and taking care not to overmix.
• Scoop the cake batter into the prepared loaf tin. Dust with a little demerara sugar. Bake for between 1 hour and 1 hour 10 minutes, covering the cake with foil if the top starts to darken too quickly.