Shrewsbury Biscuits

Another recipe from Mary Berry's Baking Bible.  This recipe caught my eye, and since it does not seem long since we were in Shrewsbury, I thought I would give it a try. 

I got my baking sheets out, lined them with baking parchment, and got my cutters and tape measure out of the cupboard.  I took the one which measured 6cm.......

With the butter and sugar creamed, egg yolk, lemon rind, flour and butter, the last thing to add were the currants.

Mary says roll out the dough to a thickness of 5mm.....no I did not use my ruler for this, but its pretty handy that a currant is about this size, so I just let the feel of the currants guide me....then I got cutting.  The biscuits looked a little on the small size, so out the tape measure came again, the size depends on which end one measures the cutter, I had been measuring the smooth size, the cutting edge was narrower, so some biscuits were cut with the larger cutter.

The next instruction is to lightly beat the egg white, with which the biscuits are to be brushed after they have been baking for 8 to 10 minutes.  I wondered just how frothy the egg white had to be.  Some biscuits got the froth and some did not, so there was a variation.  Either way is nice.  The ones with the froth have a certain sparkle about them.

After a further 5 to 8 minutes, a little longer than Mary suggested, which I reckon was because my biscuits got a little cold, as I was a little ponderous with the egg white and sugar sprinkle bit, voila, fresh biscuits.

They were lovely fresh, and after three days, Mr S reckoned they were a little like Garibaldi biscuits, still tasty but not crunchy. 

When we were little in Mauritius, we were friendly with a family a couple of roads away.  The mother was English, the father Indo Mauritian, and they had a very smart male cook who also dressed up as the Butler to serve dinner.  They had two little girls about our ages, and I do remember that we had home made Garibaldi biscuits there, made by their cook.  It was only when I came to England that I understood that people normally bought Garibaldi biscuits ready made.

Bath Buns

The first time I visited  the Pump Rooms in Bath, after a tour of the Roman Remains, and Georgian Baths, I stopped in the tea rooms as there was a band playing.  Tea and Bath Buns were ordered.  We had a pleasant view of the large room, and were enjoying chatting, then for a few minutes pure silence on my part.....I was savouring the delicious softness and flavour in the Bath Bun.  After that if we had any visitors or family staying, and wanted a ride out, we would go to Bath, and whilst our friends toured the Baths, we would have a first sitting of tea and buns and newspapers, and later a second helping with our friends.    Its quite a few years since our last visit as we now live too far away.

Bath Buns come in various sizes, looks and flavours.....ones in the shops do not look like the ones in Bath or ones in Bakeries...those are rounded and smooth, whilst the ones in the shops and some recipe books are raggedy. They usually have an egg wash and crushed sugar on the top.  I must have subconsciously had a yearning for a Bath bun, as I had only recently ordered some nibbed sugar.

The recipe I chose for my first batch of Bath Buns was From the Women's Institute Bread Book by Liz Herbert.  As I read through the ingredients I knew I had everything, so Friday Buns just had to be these.  The main flavourings were sour cherries, roughly chopped, raisins and mace.  It starts with a batter, then all other ingredients are added and the whole lot given a good 'beating' with a wooden spoon.  The dough is too slack to knead, and I have no dough hook.  Lovely for toning the upper arms.

The recipe says to place seven large spoonfuls spread well apart....next time I shall place eight spoonfuls well apart, as they came out really quite a bit larger than I wanted, and seven divided by 2 leaves an odd one out!  When they were baked they looked half raggedy and nicely round at the same time.

What the recipe does not describe is the wonderful smell given off by these buns, Mr S knew he was in for a treat when he walked in from work.  Mace is the spice and the flavour I could taste in those buns at the Pump Rooms, it filled the house with rich and warm smells, and quite dispelled the damp and gloom outside.  There is nothing quite like drawing the curtains on a Friday evening, and sitting down to a nice cup of tea and freshly  baked bun as a start to the weekend.

I froze four of the buns, which were defrosted and warmed a couple of days later, tasting just as if they had been newly baked. 

Plaiting the Dough

With every episode of the Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry Masterclasses in the can, watched at least once, and referring to various Baking Books, including Paul's How to Bake, and the New Showstoppers, I really thought it was time to try a plaited loaf.  Mr S fancied a white loaf and with my enriched white dough which includes milk, egg and butter, but no sugar, I thought I would make a plait.

Looking at Paul's eight stranded Loaf, I felt it was a little too wide, and not high enough as I needed the loaf to make sandwiches.  I had plaited the eight plait so many times in my head, that when it came to thinking about plaiting with four plaits, I just could not think how to do it.  I checked my baking books, and found that Linda Collister's Bread from Ciabatta to Rye gave the best and easiest explanation.  BUT I just could not visualise it, so during the proving of the dough, I practised:

Of course I used Paul's tips about the rolling, and bursting of any potential bubbles.

Across the baking sheet, the loaf is ready for the second rise, and with egg wash just before going into the oven, 35 minutes later, voila.....

Arundel Holiday

Arundel Castle was just a few minutes walk from our holiday home, and also in view from our garden.  During the second week of our stay, we spent the whole day visiting the Castle and Grounds.

A walk along the battlements to towers, gave great views, and the rooms of the Castle were full of wonderful paintings, furniture, tapestries, carpets and all manner of objects. 

The gardens were magnificent.  We had spied some of handsome wooden buildings above the walls in the town during our first week, but nothing had prepared us for their scale and detail.  The plantings were  also to scale, with treats and surprises everywhere.

 

In one of the big grottoes, we found a fountain playing, and perched on top of the water was a crown spinning

Outside there were water features to rival this, and equal to any I have seen

 

 

One of the temples was adorned with the Deer Antlers

 



The Kitchen Garden was full of espaliered fruit trees, flowers grown for the Castle, vegetables, and in the green house, we found a wide collection of colourful chillies.

One really needs more than one day to appreciate and enjoy all that this Castle has to offer to the tourist.  Its dining room offered us great temptations too!

Batsford Arboretum

One foggy Sunday morning we decided to go Batsford Arboretum, as we drove the fog began to lift and gave us a view of the countryside in super three D.  The various folds in the landscape became clear.  By the time we got to our destination the day was really pleasant, and the cool weather had brought out the autumn colours.....

After lunch, we followed the paths around the arboretum.  The Acers were showing their best fiery colours.  In a small patch we found some beautiful blue crocusses.

I fear that most of our bulbs in the garden are being dug up by bold grey squirrels.  They are causing so much damage this autumn.  Maybe we have a lot more of them around, and I think there also a lot less nuts and other food for them.

By the Japenese Rest House, where we sat a while watching the leaves fall from a tall Tree of Heaven, we came across a Buddha,

and a Chinese Lion

along the footpath taking us to Batsford Church, we caught a clear view of Batsford House and the countryside beyond.