Baking Bo

I decided to challenge myself today & attempt to make bagels for the first time. They took a long time but they look delicious. I got this recipe from the River Cottage Handbook on Bread by Daniel Stevens. The recipes originates from an old Jewish cookbook.  Ingredients 500g strong bread flour 5g yeast 10g salt 250ml warm water 20g caster sugar 50ml vegetable oil Method 1. Mix together all the ingredients in a large bowl to make a dough. Knead on a clean surface until smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball, coat with a little extra oil and place in a bowl. Leave to rise, covered, until double in size. (Mine took about 2/3 hours.) 2. When the dough is ready, deflate it and divide into pieces. (The recipe can make up to 12, I made 8.) One at a time, roll into a log shape. Press the ends together to make a ring. Leave to prove, covered, for about an hour. 3. When the bagels have doubled in size again, they are ready for poaching. Bring a pan of water to the boil (about 10cm

Sincere apologies for my lack of blogging recently but here's a lovely little recipe to make up for it! It's another one from Peggy Porschen's 'Boutique Baking' book.  Ingredients for the biscuits 250g unsalted butter, softened 250g caster sugar pinch of salt zest of 2 orangers OR 3 lemons OR 3 limes 1 large egg 500g plain flour For the icing 250g icing sugar white of 1 egg Method 1. Place the softened butter, salt and preferred zest in a mixing bowl and cream together until smooth and creamy. 2. Beat in the egg until fully incorporated. Add the flour and mix until the dough comes together. Shape into a ball and wrap in cling film. Chill for at least 30 minutes. 3. Once cooled, place on a floured surface and knead briefly. 4. Roll out the dough and cut out the butterfly shapes using cutters. Place them on a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper. Chill again for 30 minutes.  5. Bake for about 10 minutes at 155 until just turning golden around the

Pancake day has always been one of my favourite Spring time traditions.  Ingredients 100g plain flour pinch of salt 1 egg 300ml milk Method 1. Mix all the ingredients together in a jug using a whisk so there are no lumps. 2. Leave to chill in the fridge for a while. 3. Heat a little bit of oil in a frying pan. 4. Pour in the batter and cook the pancakes, feel free to attempt a flip! 5. Flavour with whatever toppings you want, lemon & sugar, honey, melted chocolate & banana.  Apologies for the terrible photo quality. Camera is out've battery and my phone isn't the best! I always have mine with lemon & sugar and they are delicious! Enjoy X Bo

As a little treat I decided to make my toffee almond shortbread again.  Original post:http://bakingbo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/toffee-nut-shortbread.html This time I followed the recipe and used flaked almonds. Ta da! Took my colleague at work a piece. I think it's fair to say it went down very well!  Hopefully more baking to follow soon! X Bo