Muffins

Muffins......

Not the American ones, with butter icing.....

The ones which used to be sold by the muffin man....British Muffins, sold as far back as the 19th Century. 

I was told by my son's great grand mother, that during some bleak times, when as a stonemason, great grand father was injured and not able to work, with no Welfare State as now, he would make muffins on a griddle by the fire, and she went out to sell these, to get enough money to supplement food, mianly flour, eggs and milk for the children, which was in addition to wild duck shot on the Morcambe Bay, and prawns, sea food, and wild plants gathered on the shore, with veg from the garden.  Grand mother could never stand someof these sorts of food later on, specially duck, perhaps it reminded her of poverty, but without the thought of the miseries of poverty, these foods now seem the perfect balanced sustainable diet.  Well sustainable at the population densities of the 1930's.  If everyone now went out and shot wild duck, and picked wild plants, the countryside would be completely depleted.

These ones were made by me....plain simple and just wonderful toasted, buttered, and for me golden syrup.  But anything but golden syrup for hubby.  We had our first ones,the next day for breakfast, toasted and topped with a poached duck egg...wonderful.

With all the years of baking, this is the first time I have made muffins.  They are simple fare, easy to make, and delicious....

As usual I went through a number of recipes, and settled on the one given by Peter Sidwell in his book: Simply Good Bread, which I have borrowed from the library.  Overall I find this book inspiring, but I do not think the recipes are that well thought out.  For example no second rising time is given for the muffins, or the malt loaf.  I reviewed the method given by Andrew Whitley in the excellent Bread Matters tome, and he gave the second step.

I just love the gritty texture which ground rice gives, and used that very successfully on this batch of muffins.

Ingredients

500g strong white flour
1 tsp sea salt
10g fresh yeast
250ml milk warmed and maybe a little more milk to give the right consistency
50ml yogurt.

I used goat's milk and yogurt.

With the usual kneading, and I think more liquid than that given by PS, and proving.  The dough is rolled out to a little less than 2 cm, and cut with a sharp round cutter.  In this batch I rolled them to the given 2.5cm, and got 10, rather than the given 12 in the recipe.  Some of the muffins were a little too thick, so I would definitely make 12 next time.  No problem though, I just got three slices from the thick muffins to toast, but that mean that the slice in the middle does not get that lovely gritty layer. 

Dusted well with ground rice, allowed to rise, then baked in a pan or on a griddle.  The technique is to turn them the first time just after a minute so that one gets two very flat sides.  After about 6-8 minutes on a medium heat, with a gentle goldness not a fierce heat which will scorch, they are finished in the oven at 180C or Gas Mark 4 for a further 10 minutes.

Baking Muffins together with Jane Mason

I accepted the invite to bake along with others this Sunday guided and directed by Jane Mason.  This recipe features in her Book of Buns, and also in her Sourdough book, which is now sadly out of print.

There is always something new to learn, and also having an appointment to meet, gives one something to look forward, with discussions and advice.

Having had the recipe and appointment details, I had everything ready and had the muffins cut, and proving before the rendez-vous.  I was particularly pleased as in the notes, I read that this could be cooked in oven instead of on a griddle. I no longer have a griddle, as the old one was specially for the gas cooker.  The baking in the oven method was not using the rolling with a rolling pin and cutting with a cutter, but cutting a 'log' then dipping it in polenta or semolina. However I had already used the rolling method.  

I had a 'eureka' moment, after Jane advised that the muffins ought to be squashed down prior to going in the oven, to prevent them simply rising rounded like a bun.  I tried out my idea, which was to cover the raw muffins with another sheet of baking parchment with another baking tray on top.

They are a little browner than muffins are traditionally,  and as the Silverwood biscuit trays are great conductors, next time I shall pre-heat and bake at 200 C fan,  rather than 220 C.  I loved the technique than Jane demonstrated on forking the buns all around to 'tear' them opening, thus giving just the right amount of raggedness, so that when they are baked, they have lots of crannies to capture sauces etc.

I tried three different sized cutters.  The smallest one was a little 'dainty' but just right for afternoon tea.  The middle sized one if the one I shall settle on in the future.  The largest was right as a base for large poached eggs and spinach with a lovely Hollandaise Sauce.

In 2013 I wrote about  muffins

Four years ago once again, but this time a sourdough version was used.

English Muffins the sourdough way

I've made muffins before using fresh yeast, and dried yeast, and just love this very British Bun.  Back in 2013, I wrote about one of my muffin batches, and having looked at that, was reminded of the cooking techniques.

Nigel Bamford set English Muffins on page 91 of Jane Mason's 'Perfecting Sourdough', as our Baking Challenge for the first half of July.

To fit in with when I like to bake which is in the morning, I started around lunch time yesterday, kneaded the whole lot before bedtime, and left the bowl covered in the conservatory overnight...in the morning the dough was ready.

The individual crumpets were rising on their sheets with a little semolina during our breakfast....and about an hour later, they looked ready for their griddling. This is what they looked like after a couple of minutes and their first turn.

Again, after a couple of minutes a turn, and several turns for about eight minutes, then a further 8 to 10 minutes in the oven at Gas Mark No 4.

I rolled out the dough and used an 8cm cutter and still I think I could have rolled a little thinner to  1.5 cm and got 12, rather than the 11.  There was plenty of rise even after a double flip....and I did not use the bicarbonate of soda, as my starter is very active, and had never come across this for muffins.

Traditionally muffins are designed to be split and toasted before being eaten, which is why it is preferable to griddle on a medium heat to avoid scorching...as they will brown further when they are toasted.

As we had woken early, and therefore had an early breakfast, it seemed quite natural to me to have a 'second breakfast' when it was coffee time.  A muffin, split and toasted, topped with butter and golden syrup.  I just love the designs on the Tate & Lyle Golden Syrup tins...this one a special one for Queen's Birthday.

Hot crust Pastry

We are in a tidying mind frame....this also means checking out the recordings.  We had viewed or cancelled most items on the hard drive but there still is a folder with 54 programmes which are just mine.  Usually I do not watch TV until well into the evening, but to check out these programmes, I decided the best time was whilst doing the ironing.  I now have no backlog of ironing! 

I found a programme from the 2011 series of the British Bake Off, where Paul demonstrated hot water crust pastry for small pork pies with quails egg.  I had been thinking about tackling hot water crust pastry for some time.  In the end I amalgamated two recipes, I had no quails eggs, but I did have a fillet of pork and some apricots.....I had a pan which I had bought a few years ago to try the large muffins.  I felt the muffins were too large and too sweet for every day eating, and the tins apart from being used to make some brioches, before my sister bought me some mini brioche moulds, had been hidden under loads of other tins in the cupboard.

 

The pastry is so easy to make and roll out.....but try what may I had only sufficient to make four of the giant muffin sized pies.  I had used the quantities given on the programme.  For my six pies I will need to use:

300 g Plain Flour, 60g strong flour, 75 g butter, 90g lard, and 150 ml water.  4500g of meat, 120 g bacon, and a large onion.

I found a size plate just the right size for the liner, and the lid of a stainless steel pot right for the cover.  I used the large end of a small piping nozzle to make the hole.....the first time my pipping set had been used!

In his How to Bake Book, Paul Hollywood, does not mention about putting in the empty cases and tops into the fridge for half an hour, which he does on the programme.  I used the fridge cooling, as my pastry was a little too soft without that. 

I flavoured the bacon, onion and pork fillet mixture with salt, pepper, and whole white mustard seeds, with some added chopped parsley and grated lemon rind,I filled the bottom half with the mixture, then put in four apricots and finished with another layer of meat.  My warm fingers needed to go round a couple of times when crimping, as at first the pastry was a little too brittle to form the nice shape. 

Each hollow in the tray has a 190ml capacity.  The finished cooked and gelatin filled pie weighs 280g when cold.

I do not usually buy stock cubes, and when I read the contents in Waitrose, I decided to use some my own stock:  100ml with a sheet of gelatin, for the four, so next time for 6, 150ml stock with 1 1/2 sheets.

Mr S was a little disappointed that these were not on the menu.  I explained about filling up the pies with stock, and waiting for it all to set when he came home from work, but as we did more tidying I checked that the pies were cold, and put one in the coolest part of the fridge.  So we shared one for supper after a bowl of leek and chicken soup.....why have I waited so long to start making our hot water crust pies?  I think this size pie is a little too large for one, for right for two.  The rest will be in the freezer ready for weekend lunches.

I wish that the capacity of tins in volume was readily available when buying tins, and also given in recipes .  I recently bought some Silverwood Bead Baking tins, as 500g and 1 Kg, and the 500g one is slightly larger capacity than my old 900g/ 2lb cake tin.  So if I used these for cake recipes, the mixture would not give the right shape at all.

May going going gone

Its just not like me not to post for so long, so what have I been up to during May.  Lots....too much really, and not enough time to blog.

I've very nearly finished knitting a jumper which has been on the pins for too long.  I have a cushion project on the go.  In the meantime this month I knitted a made to measure bespoke tea cosy for my friend Marie-Claire.  It took me several attempts to get it just right, starting with a clever little stitch called rick rack.

 

 



 Plenty of baking of course, mainly bread, including a batch of muffins, sourdough spelt, wholemeal, white and baguettes, and this great batch of pizza for his and hers, with enough for three meals at least, some in the freezer for busy days.  For me a layer of pesto, then roasted red peppers, topped by buffalo mozzarella, goats cheese and olives, roasted tomatoes some squashed for him.

Its been a very cold late spring but the garden looked a picture.

During the last few very wet days, the slugs has eaten my little courgette plant right down to the ground, and my runner bean plants are just hanging in.

Had a few days away exploring around Frome which has some interesting streets

 

Had several friends round during the month, last ones included Penny with her daughter and new grand-son...



Belgian Brioche Craquelin

Another fabulous recipe from The hairy Bikers' big book of Baking...

Friday was a day of rain...we are having so many of them this year.  The best thing to beat the rain blues is a spot of baking.  This is the first time I've baked brioches, and this recipe with the twist of something sugary in the middle was really appealing.  I had been hesitating about baking brioches before as I do not have the fluted brioche tins, and did not feel that I could justify the cost about £26.00 for 12 tins!!!

It takes quite some effort and time to work with the sticky dough and gradually add the butter, I used goat's butter, and goat's milk and its best to avoid answering the phone and the front door too! 

After the dough had risen I soaked the sugar cubes in orange juice.  Next time I would use more orange peel and just a little liqueur to flavour the cubes as I over soaked the cubes trying to get in as much flavour as possible, and this was a little too damp and leaked out of three of the brioches.

I decided to use some 'muffin' tins, and also some dariole tins. The ones in the dariole tins stuck on the bottom, so would need to use some parchment paper to avoid this. I've scaled down the recipe for next time to 3 eggs, so that the six large and six smaller muffins tins will be just right.  The picture above is taken just before they had their last prove under their polythene tent. 

The smell whilst kneading the dough right through to baking was heavenly.  My friend Penny arrived just about when the brioche went into the oven, she had called earlier when my hands were covered with dough.  We sat down and enjoyed coffee chatting with the background noise of rain in the conservatory. 

They are delicious warm and Penny did not hesitate when offered one to taste.  We warmed up four gently for breakfast the next morning.  The crusts are buttery and flaky and the centres soft and delicious.  Four came out of the freezer for Sunday Breakfast, and warmed up very well.  Four more left for another special breakfast!

Sharing Bread Making Skills

If anyone had come to the door today they would have been roped into a group bread making session. Well three is more of a group that two!

MC is already accomplished in the arts of the kitchen, most certainly in the area of chocolate muffins, very yummy, delicious quiche eaten today, bramble crumbles, etc. with which she has helped bring sustenance and pleasure to us two new Kenilworth residents. So it was a pleasure to share some of the skills and tips which I have developed and acquired over the last two years, since becoming a domestic hand bread maker.

By the way my son Matthew works for Panasonic, the makers of the best electric automatic bread makers, and has already offered to get me one. I just like the sensual manipulation of the dough, and the ability to make a wide variety of bread from just one batch of dough, so I turned down the offer for now!

Today's output was made from 1kg white flour made into my olive oil bread, making a plain loaf, tomato and anchovy focaccia, and roasted pepper and onion with cheese wheels. MC passed with flying colours and is here with her results for you to see. Well done MC!

Meloui

Meloui is a delicious pan cooked small bread, made with semolina, and with a careful technique of folding, forms a delicious flat bun or 'pancake' with flaky components.  Jane Mason collected this recipe when she went to stay with friends in a little house on a beach in Morocco.  This is the latest Bake from the Baking through The Book of Buns on Facebook, which brings me bang up to date.

We've been to Morocco twice, and looking back at our photographs, I found the one which shows some breakfast breads we had at a 'farm hotel'.

I know that one of the guides was really proud of the semolina flat breads in the basket, and now I am sure that they must have been Meloui.  I think it was his Mum who had made them.  We had a selection of freshly prepared breads, orange juice and orange blossom honey, and dates from the farm.  Wish I had asked to go and see the kitchens.  Many people still speak French in Morocco, so I have enjoyed speaking with Moroccan stall holders.  This is just one of the pictures of the many Toroudant Bread Stalls, which I took.

I am a bit of 'pest' sometimes, as before I make something, I like to find out a little more about it, and get influenced to change things a bit, and sometimes veer astutely from the recipe or technique.  Mostly I have been straight forward and not researched until after I have baked as far as The Book of Buns is concerned.  However I was tainted in advance of baking the Meloui.  If you want to follow the technique as per Jane Mason, then only look at the technique on youtube after you have made your first batch.  I am sure there are many ways of making buns, after all just how many techniques and shapes are there for scones in England?

I had a bag of organic semolina flour from Shipton Mill, which I had been using to spread on baking sheets, and coating muffins, but now I would be able to use it in a bake and taste its lovely flavour.  Of course, there is white bread flour too, as well as the semolina.  For the filling instead of butter or olive oil, I used my lovely Wharfe Valley Extra Virgin Rapeseed Oil.  I found that by smearing the worksurface in a little oil, I could stretch out the dough, fold and shape it easily.  I ought to have made a second fold to make them a little less high...but then there is nothing like hands on and making ones own mistakes, to arrive as the perfect shape!  My special Huckaback linen towel which I use for covering my bakes is now soaking in some detergent to remove the oil..

I did not use anything like the amount of oil stated in the recipe, so if using oil, put about half in a shallow dish to dip into, and top up if necessary.  But then maybe the remainder would have been used in the frying pan if following the recipe.

A careful rolling with the rolling pin means that you keep the circular shape, something I got better at towards the end.  I chose to use a griddle rather than a frying pan, as I wanted to keep the oil to a minimum, and had room to cook 6 buns at time.

Penny and little Daniel arrived during the rolling up process so they were my first tasters.

As soon as the last one was off the griddle we sat down together in the conservatory, with honey, butter, strawberries from the garden, blueberries and a nice drink.  The Meloui are really delicious, and so much like the ones we had on our trip from the cruise ship.  We had one each warmed up again for breakfast.  This time I put some runny honey in a little dish, and dipped 'peelings' of my bun into it.  With their swirls and layers....they make lovely tactile finger food for breakfast or with mid morning coffee.