Alviti Bake Off

 The other day all the children had a friend round to play. 

the girls decided to partner up and do their own version of the popular TV show Bake Off. 

But the baking began before their friends even arrived. 

Rainy Sunday

I was thinking this morning that we get lots of lovely comments from people about what our children get up to.

The vast majority cost us so little, just time (something I know not everyone has). 

Today was the perfect example of that...

Baking Before School

Sometimes I get silly ideas in my head - like making bread before school! 

To  be fair it was only the dough that they were making. An enriched one to make apple buns for a bake sale at school.

Apple Cinnamon Buns

Last weekend we went to a food festival in Oxford. The whole day was really great, and a particular highlight was one of the talks I managed to sneak off to without the children. 

 It was with a man who has a company called "Bake with Jack", apparently he's on the TV but I've never seen him (not that I watch huge amounts these days so that's nothing to go by). 

He did a demo where he made some apple cinnamon buns, he was a great speaker, really engaging and funny. I also picked up quite a few tips with baking. 

A Baking Lesson Learnt!

Baking night again on Wednesday.

I tend to leave the children to it, popping in &out doing other jobs, there to help them if they need it but to encourage them to be as independent as possible with their baking and they always try to get a few bakes on the go at once!

They all learnt important lessons that night though - always read the instructions!

Turns out a (heaped) tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda is a lot more than teaspoon! The lovely looking cookie bake nearly made us all puke as we spat it out, running to the bin! I think this bake will go down in family history! Good job we had meringues to take the taste away!

What's the worst baking mistake you've made?

Baking Nights

The children love being back at school with their friends. 

But I do miss them a bit! So I'm trying to make sure that our evening are spent doing something and not filled with clubs each night, although they have started scouts again (children need less school and more scouts). 

They quickly find something they want to do. wither around me or independent of me! Last night I was making Chelsea buns and my Middlest decided to make some biscuits. 

Young Baker

I'm obviously  proud of my kids, like every parent. But one thing I'm particularly proud of is their love of food. Inherited from both my wife and from me - we're both seriously into our food and love cooking and feeding other people.

The children have taken this as normal. They love helping us cook and having people round for food. They really like it when they can cook something with little or no help, something that has been happening more and more.

Our eldest managed to cook a peach and chickpea curry from scratch (a meal that has become a staple in our house) a few weeks back. sorting out all the ingredients, and cooking them herself, the only thing I had to do was turn on our technical induction hob, something I feel like I need help with at times!

Then last night our middle child decided she wanted to do some baking. I told her that she could but would need to write out the recipe into our family cook books first. She chose pineapple upside down cake, a family favourite, she did everything herself, the only thing I did was put it into the oven and take it out again. She even tested the cake to see if it was done by putting a knife in and seeing if it came out clean.

She was so proud when they had a friend round tonight and she could offer him a piece of cake that she had made herself! The other lovely part was that while she did this we were all in the kitchen doing other things and preparing a huge tea for when my wife came back from work, extra large as my parents were coming over as well!

They're finally starting to earn their keep!

Just wondering what I should get her to make me next...

What was the first cake you made by yourself?

Children Playing Bake Off

As a family there is a few programmes we watch together, one of these is The Great British Bake Off. The kids just love it and are always inspired by it. 

All of this year they've been playing "Play-dough Bake Off" at every opportunity. They get their play dough out, we set them a theme and then they get to it. My youngest will run round shouting "3 minutes left!" and the girls will panic to finish at the end - just like the program.

Pesto Swirls

 I was making some bread the other day when I noticed that I had half a jar of pest left over in the fridge. It got me thinking about what I could make with it.

In my mind I had an idea of a kind of savoury Chelsea bun. 

so with my apprentice baker we pulled the dough out into a flat rectangle and then spread the pesto on it, we then scattered pumpkin seeds and broke up a ball of mozzarella over the whole surface.

Then, just like you would with a Chelsea bun, we rolled it up and cut it into 12 equal segments, we laid these out on some baking parchment and i grated a bit of cheddar cheese on top.

I baked them at around 180 degrees for 20 minutes, until they were cooked through. 

A really easy bread to make that tastes great. 

I also love it because once it's made it's a great one to keep in the freezer, then when my wife is off to work she can takes a couple of these for her lunch, there's no need to make sandwiches.

What do you think?

Do you make up things that are easy for a packed lunch? 

Brioche Burger Bun Recipe

Okay so I thought it was about time I posted the recipe I used the other day when I made the brioche burger buns with my daughter, it's certainly BBQ weather at the moment and a homemade burger with some homemade buns goes down pretty well in the sunshine! 

This makes 48 buns so adjust for how many you want!

Thanks to Carl for this recipe.

It's made in two stages:

Stage one - Flying sponge

Water - 750g
Yeast - 38g
Flour - 500g

Mix this first bit up about an hour before you want to get started, this gets the yeast working. Leave it covered somewhere warm.

Stage two - Main Dough

Flour - 2125g
Salt - 50g
Sugar - 338g
Milk - 375g
Egg - 250g
Water - 125g

Stage Three -

Butter - 375g (diced up)

Add all the dry ingredients and mix together in a large bowl (very large bowl if you're doing the whole recipe above), then add in the flying sponge and the other wet ingredients and mix until it starts to pull together but bit form a dough.

At this stage add in the butter  then kneed until a clear dough is formed (it can take some work if you're doing the whole lot!)
.

Then leave it to rest for 45 minutes.

After the rest chop the dough into 90g (ish) bits and roll into round balls. Lay them out on a baking tray leaving a good space between them. 

weigh out the dough into 90g bits before rolling

If you're planning on freezing some dough then this is the point where I popped them into the freezer on a tray, then once frozen I put them into freezer bags and sealed for another day.

Into the freezer

The use an egg wash to cover the dough and sprinkle sesame seeds on top, covert the dough (but not so it's touching it) and leave to double in size (about an hour or so).

Ready for the next prooving then into the oven!

Then pop into a pre-heated oven at 220 degrees C for 12 - 15 minutes until cooked through - be careful though as I find an egg glaze catches easily. Cool on a wire rack.

Finished buns! Worth the effort! 

Then shove in your favourite beef burger dripping with cheese and bacon, giant grilled mushroom stuffed with feta cheese, fried halloumi with courgette, minted lamb burger or anything else that you fancy, make sure it's big enough that you struggle to get your jaws around it and fill your face when no one is watching!

Fill it up as much as you can! 

  Let me know what you think if you try it!