MESSY BAKER

This is not strictly a baking post, but I haven't made sourdough for a while, so I thought I'd amuse you with some pancake stories. Pancake challenge (nothing to do with the ridiculous ice bucket challenge doing the rounds at the moment) is a challenge I set for myself - to make the fluffiest and also the easiest pancakes ever known to man kind. I want them fluffy - think American style rather than French crepes, and I want them easy - Ms Rantlet aged nearly three and Rant-a-Baby at 11 month don't leave much time or effort for elaborate pancake-making. We recently went to a wedding in Kent - Buxted Park hotel is highly recommended if you are after a bit of luxury by the way. Post wedding breakfast included made to order pancakes, and thats what Ms Rantlet went for - honestly, she would eat pancakes for breakfast lunch and dinner if I let her. When they arrived, it was a heaven on a plate - a stack of super fluffy golden-brown pancakes drizzled with maple syrup an...

I have been thinking about making fougasse for a long-long time, at least a couple of years, ever since I saw Richard Bertinet’ “Dough” book - I just knew I HAD to make it!! I don’t actually own the book, but I have rented it from a library so many times that I am sure that they think I own it :) Seriously, photos in the book are just amazing, and recipes… well, what can I say about recipes – as far as I am concerned Richard is an absolute Bread God!! I am an absolute convert after watching his mixing and kneading video – and I am telling you its either some higher magic or some sort of voodoo! His technique of turning what seems like a mess of flour and water into a smooth ball of dough is nothing short of a miracle. So as you are guessing I am a fan, a FUGE fan of Richard and his recipes, and I finally decided to give fougasse a go. I looked up a recipe online , and normally I wouldn’t mess with Richard’s recipe, but I was a bit tired and a bit short of time, so I decided to ...

I have been a bit quite of late, due to a number of things, but mainly down to two small babies to run after and a lot of DIY work at home. I am blaming DIY for the murder of my starter – the number of times I have forgot to refresh it cause I fell asleep from physical exhaustion! Warm weather and a tired baker does not bode well, I tell you that! I still have some mother starter in the fridge, so not all is lost. However I decided to take a break from sourdough breads an started looking to a quick and easy every day loaf recipe that I can do in a couple of hours in-between looking after babies and house work. I came across “ John Whaite Bakes at Home ” book and I found loaf perfection!!   John is the winner of The Great British Bake Off a couple of years back and I have been following him and his recipes for a while. I was super happy when Mr Ranty bought me John’s book as a present – its a beautiful book to look at, nice layout and tempting photos, also John’s writing style i...

I have a confession – I don’t like Christmas cakes and Christmas pudding, don’t like any heavy fruit cakes for that matter. As any good baker, I decided the only way to change it is to make my own Christmas cake, which I have done for the last couple of years. Some of them turned out better than others, but I am more pleased with them than shop-bought ones. This year my mother in law, Mrs Ranty Senior is making us a Christmas pudding and bringing it over all the way from NZ. She is a very good baker, and I am sure her pudding is going to be amazing, and it removes any fruit cake baking responsibilities from me this year. I am still going to be doing Christmas baking this year – Gingerbread house and Christmas Panetonne, but more on that in later posts. If I WAS baking my own cake, I would be buying a lot of booze – brandy and port – to “feed” my cake. But seeing as I am skipping on the baking, I shall STILL be buying the alcohol but for my personal consumption :) With all that ...

Its November, the autumn has well and truly settled in and in case you have missed it, its Halloween season!! I swear, the shops have started selling Halloween tat back in July, but now I can give in an buy as much cra.. I mean decoration as I feel like. Plus Mr Ranty just informed me that he has ordered a smoke machine, strobe lights and horror sounds – so you can see, it’s a family event in our household Plus, Ms Rantlet is two now and is much more interested in the holidays, so I am really looking forward to introducing her to Halloween and might even have to dress her up in a silly costume or two :)   Anyway, where was I? Right, Halloween, autumn … I love autumn, I love American word for it – “fall” – because that it exactly what it feels like. The leaves are turning copper colour, the days are getting shorter, but still mild with a ray of sunshine or two. And the best thing about autumn is pumpkins – not the huge orange decorative things they sell all over the place (al...

With all the goings on lately – finishing off work, prepping the house and Rant-a-Baby arrival (yay!!!), I have neglected my starter and it has died on me.   But not to panic, I always have a jar of mother starter sitting in the fridge, so not all is lost. However, that starter would take a few days to come alive and become the lovely bubbly bread making mess and I am out of bread. Can you believe it? No starter, no bread and not much time to spare – the only thing to do is to make a yeasted bread.   I always wanted to find an easy fool-proof recipe, something that takes very little effort and works every time. Well, I think I have cracked it – o far I’ve made it three times and it turned out great every time – good volume, great texture and it toasts really well.   Easy-As WholeMeal Oat Loaf 320ml water, luke-warm 2 tsp dried active yeast (I use Allison or Hovis) 1 Tbsp honey 320g white flour 150g wholemeal flour 30g oats 1 tsp salt 40g butt...

My name is Messy Baker and I am an apple pie addict – there, I’ve said it. The weather is getting cooler and there are so many apples around, people are giving them away for free – literally!! The other day a neighbour left a bag of apples outside of their house with a note “free to a good home” – seriously – a bag of apples! giving away for free! In London!! Miracles do happen. Well, this particular pie was made from shop-bought apples, Bramley apples, the best kind of apples for cooking in my view. I had a look at a number of books for inspiration and ended up with a mish-mash of different ideas, as always :) I wouldn’t be called a “Messy Baker” after all. Pastry recipe pretty much follows Jamie’s Home Cooking Skills recipe, and the filling is my own creation. Mr Ranty did declare this to be the best apple pie ever, but he is a bit biased after all Autumn Apple Pie Pastry : 250 g plain flour 50 g icing sugar pinch of salt ½ tsp ground ginger zest of 1 lemon ...