MESSY BAKER

This is not strictly a bread recipe, but I was so pleased with the result, I decided to write it down for the future.  Last weekend we hosted a Russian-themed party, and what a better way to start a party than with a plate of blini and caviar!  Whenever we have a Russian party - which is once in a blue moon – I get caviar from Caspian Caviar guys – great quality and really speedy delivery. If you are strapped for time, you can get blini from them as well, but they will never be as good as the ones you make yourself.  Russian Blini  Makes 30-35  100 g plain flour  70 g spelt wholemeal flour (mine is from Shipton Mill )  250 ml warm milk  ¼ tsp sugar  ¼ tsp salt  1 tsp dry yeast  2 eggs, separated  Serve with:  Crème fraise  Caviar (black or red) or smoked salmon or cooked prawns  Chive (for decoration)  Now, traditional blini use buckwheat flour, but I didn’t have any in the house – who...

Happy St Patrick’s Day troops! This year I started preparing for it early : green top bought – check, a massive collection of whiskeys at home – check, make a beer bread – check!  In reality, I was just looking for new flavours to add to my bread, and found a bottle of pale ale left over from a Viking party last summer – that a story for another day.  I like my beers, but I am more of a larger girl, I’d drink Guinness too, but only in Ireland – it just doesn’t taste the same anywhere else. Ale is not a drink I would ever choose, so using it in bread made perfect sense!  Pale Ale Sourdough  220 ml pale ale  100 ml water  160g white sourdough starter (100% hydration)  1 Tbsp barley malt extract  400g white bread flour  100g wholemeal four  1.5 tsp salt  I used pale ale, but you can use any beer you may have in the house, as long as its not dark beer.  Pour beer and water in a mixer bowl, measure out starter. I am...

A few weeks back I had a great pleasure of enjoying Vivien Lloyd, Jam Mistress herself, hospitality. We were planning a family trip to Bath and Vivien kindly invited us over to stay with her, and as an additional bonus, she gave me a class in jelly making – I  couldn't  believe my luck!  Even though it is my post, I must point out that Vivien did all the work , I just took a lot of pictures, distracted her with my chatter and polished off the finished product :)  I must say, I am not very friendly with jellies – the whole jelly making, straining and ensuring the right consistency and clarity seems a bit too complicated for me. Plus, I am not quite sure what I’d use jelly for if I did make it.  Well, I am happy to report that after Vivien’s class I am a jelly-convert. I still need to find more uses for it, but I am definitely more confident making jellies, plus I can’t believe how simple and HOW FAST you can make them – fruit to jelly in TWO hours, yes, rea...