What are you baking this week?

[Earthmaiden]

All the bakings look scrummy. The onion tart will be lovely, Sue. You can't really go wrong and they are always well received.

[KeenCook]

Sue, thx for pic! Looks delish!
Uschi, your baking looks fab!

[Uschi]

Thank you! It actually started a bit inauspiciously, with me not looking at my measuring jug properly. For some reason you have the column for Liter (1/2 l, 1/4 l and so forth beside the column for flour and sugar, while the mililitres are on the back. So, looking at the flour measurements instead of ml, I used too much water and had to add more flour, oil and salt. I was in a hurry, so nsot much kneading was done and I dumped the bowl outside in the freezing cold over night. Axel got it in in the morning and 10 minutes later the lid was pushed up. I gave the dough a rushed kneading and shaped the rolls and bread, leaving them to prove again, and they rose beautifully. Both bread and rolls turned out with fine, even pores, a light crust and just right.

[Stokey Sue]

I ought to make some bread, that does look good Uschi.

The melted butter pastry is a keeper, delicious

[miss mouse]

It does look delicious!!! Right up my street!!!!

And mine!!!

[aero280]

I was tempted by the sweet onions in Costco yesterday, but they are very big onions and the box has 6 or 8 onions in it, which is probably too much for the odd onion tart. But an onion tart is just the thing for a cold winter's night.

[capricornbcaroline]

Rather late in the day can I recommend this recipe, for the stollen bars. Really easy and so much better than my previous attempts at proper stollen. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... dan-lepard

[aero280]

Yes! Those are the stollen bars I make.

[Suelle]

Rather late in the day can I recommend this recipe, for the stollen bars. Really easy and so much better than my previous attempts at proper stollen. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... dan-lepard

I've used that recipe too - very good! I'm hopeless at baking with yeast, so these are a superb replacement.

[capricornbcaroline]

I'm so pleased you both use and like this recipe - it was my standout Christmas bake of 2024 (quite a grand claim when I don't really bake much at this time of year other than some Swiss biscuits and mince pies!). That glycerine seems to really make a difference.

[Smitch]

I’ve bought the ingredients for the stollen bites but not go around to it yet. I make them most years for Xmas. They’ll have to be a January treat instead.

[patpoyntz]

Sakks, thank you so much for troubling to write that very comprehensive recipe. I made the bread yesterday, quite a few new steps for me, and I am really pleased with the result. Sorry there isn’t a picture, it wasn’t quite as beautiful as yours, but looks ok, and certainly tastes great.

[Uschi]

I have baked two trays of onion cake. Well, one all onion cake and one with a "test stripe" of sprouts and leeks respectively to try out what they taste like used in this recipe. The sprouts aren''t bad, but I think they need more caraway seed and cheese, probably a bit of Parmesan. The leeks aren't bad, either, but they need smoked bacon cubes alongside - next time.

We will be going to a games afternoon later (hopefully, if our host's sore throat of a few days ago has disappeared) and the onion cake will keep us going.

[Earthmaiden]

That sounds interesting Uschi. I'm imagining a scone-like texture?

[Uschi]

That sounds interesting Uschi. I'm imagining a scone-like texture?

Actually no. It is a tray bake with a thin yeast dough base (I used spelt flour, but you can use a pizza base) which is topped with a mix of gently fried onions, lots of caraway seeds and a mix of creme fraiche, cheese and eggs.

[Stokey Sue]

Ah, so more like a pissaladière - there is sometimes made with pastry, but I'm less convinced by that version

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/j ... ity-cloake

[aero280]

I do an improvised bake with tomatoes and onion on a base of unrolled pastry. Puff-pastry bought from a supermarket.


I'm wondering if the current batch of yeast is bad. I had the disappointing stollen before Christmas. Today I have been making another two dozen bread rolls for the freezer, and they are taking an age to rise. I don't think that the ambient temp is causing it. Despite the lack of central heating at the moment, i have an electric heater in the kitchen and it seems warmer there than usual. The BBE date on the dried Tesco yeast is May25.

[Uschi]

Feed it with beer.

[scullion]

i don't know whether it counts as baking but i've 'baked' jars for the mango chutney - and granola to combine use of the oven.

i would complain to tesco - they'll probably give you a fresh one that should work better.

[Sakkarin]

Update for aero208 on the yeasty stuff!

I just made a loaf with the last of the fresh yeast which I found lurking at the back of my freezer from our experiment a while back, and looking back at our old posts on this thread, was shocked to realise that it was over a year ago that I froze it (nov/dec 2023)!

When defrosted, the yeast still had that creamy coherent look, not the brown sludge I was expecting. When making the loaf, it smelt extremely "yeasty", which I wondered might affect the final flavour, but by the time it was cooked, the extreme yeastiness had gone, a very tasty and springy loaf.

Conclusion: frozen fresh yeast will last for over a year.