By l.martin, on January 6th, 2012   Baking, Yeast bread 
Last Sunday i tried to help some people make small dinner rolls in real-time via Twitter. Since the actual tweet along a few people asked for the recipe so here it is…
You will need:
400g strong white flour
300g lucwarm water
7g dried yeast (this is a little bit too much but it tends to come in 7g packs, easier to use a whole one than save it)
7g salt
1 tsp each of dried herbs you like; rosemary, sage, thyme, or spices like cardemon seeds, aniseed etc.
Using the handle of a spoon, mix all the ingredients together; clean the bowl down, cover with a towel and rest for 10 minutes.
Next; generously oil a work surface and your hands. Pull the dough out onto the surface and press out to an oblong of about 50x40cm. fold the top third . . . →Tweet-along rolls
By l.martin, on January 1st, 2012 Bread, Restaurants, Yeast bread 
Six months ago i had a bread roll in a restaurant which has haunted me ever since. Normally I might eat something and figure out right away what is in it and how it’s made and if I enjoyed it, recreate it at home and enjoy it again, but this bread roll eluded me.
The restaurant in question was Roganic and the roll was their very special soft pumpernickel roll, served warm with whipped butter and Maldon salt; heaven, and technically impossible to make.
The pumpernickel rolls at Roganic (at the front)
What makes pumpernickel bread so unique and impossible to turn into a soft roll is the cooking process involved and the chemical reactions that take place; Pumpernickel is a 100% rye bread, leavened partly with a sour starter. It’s baked for anything up to 24 hours at a low temperature, this converts much of the starch into sugars which turn dark, dark . . . →Roganic style soft pumpernickel rolls
By l.martin, on November 13th, 2011 Baking, Biscuits 
I’ve been thinking about flavours and recipes to make a birthday cake for Archie (he’s one on the 25th) and at this time of year when clementines are in season it seems like an obvious choice.
Flicking through Dan Lepards new book Short & Sweet I came across clementine and oatmeal muffins with a clementine glaze which looked amazing. I made these yesterday and they were actually one of the nicest cakes I ever made. We had friends over in the afternoon and we ate all twelve of them in one sitting.
I’m not going to give you the recipe, you’ll have to buy the book, but here are some pictures:
I had a load of clementines left, and since I have another supperclub next week and still no decision on the petit fours, I decided to make some biscuits. I’ve gone for two types; chocolate and . . . →Baking with clementines
By l.martin, on November 9th, 2011 Bread, Yeast bread 
Because of some controversy surrounding the recipe, Dan asked me to have a go at his soft slider buns that will appear in this Saturdays Guardian…
Not sure I want to spoil the surprise so I’ll just leave you with some advice; don’t let the initial mix cool completely before moving on to the next stage of in this cold weather the yeast may take an age to get going… Also, don’t be worried at the density of the dough, it will give a lovely firm bun perfect for fat, cheesy burgers…
By l.martin, on September 13th, 2011 Baking, Bread, Pastry, Sourdoughs, Tarts 
Last Sunday I had a market stall at the Den Bosch Smaakmarkt (http://www.bosch500.nl/nl/diner). I spent 3 days and nights baking to produce everything i wanted to sell, and sell it i did, all of it in fact. I only just remembered to keep a loaf of bread back for myself for dinner.
The bread was all based on my Basic Sourdough no. 2, using wholmeal spelt in place of white spelt. The Chocolate tart is from my Double Chocolate tart post, but with a pate sucre with no added cocoa.
The Lemon Tart recipe is also on my blog, the custard and Bakewell tart is not, but may be eventually
The meringues use a Swiss method of heated egg whites to produce a big, light, chewy meringue.
. . . →The Market
By l.martin, on September 10th, 2011 Cooking, My Sourdough 
It’s Saturday night and I’m baking for the market tomorrow…
By l.martin, on August 25th, 2011 Cooking, Everyday, Sourdoughs 
To make a good sour pizza dough, I use my own basic sourdough number 2 recipe with half the quantity, but instead of the final fold I push it out to a pizza shape on baking paper.
For the red sauce I reduce a tin of tomatoes to a thick paste with oregano, white pepper and salt and then purée.
Toppings can be anything, but in this case I used Italian sausage, mushrooms fried with garlic, mozzarella and taleggio.
I use a 14 kilo granite baking stone which takes an hour to heat to 230 degrees, I use a short handled peel to get the pizza onto the stone and bake time is 12 – 13 minutes.
By l.martin, on July 31st, 2011 Baking, Pastry, Tarts 
This week I fell in love with an idea after reading this post about the Paris Brest. I’ve never eaten one, let alone made one, but based on only a few basic details about it I set out to make one. There are three important things required to make this dessert; good choux pastry, a crème Paris-Brest, and to make that, a praline paste.
The pastry was easy enough to figure out; I followed exactly the recipe on this post by Azélia. I haven’t made choux pastry for some 13 years, but it was no problem with this as a guide.
Next was the praline paste. In fact again, I found an excellent step by step guide, here. For the actual construction of the crème Paris-Brest I battled with French food websites with their tedious flash based advertising wank to get a basic ratio but no method. In the end I followed a Swiss meringue buttercream kind . . . →Paris Brest
By l.martin, on July 31st, 2011 Baking, Pastry 
I emailed this recipe to myself last week but I have no idea where I got it from so I can’t really give credit, I think it may be Raymond Blanc; in any case it’s not mine.
You will need:
7 egg yolks 75g caster sugar 25g plain flour 20g corn flour / corn starch 500ml whole milk 1 tsp vanilla extract
Using an electric whisk or Kitchen Aid whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy and doubled in size, add the flours and vanilla while continuing to whisk. When all is well incorporated set to one side.
Bring the milk to the boil and pour into the egg mixture while whisking hard, when everything is mixed well, return to the pan. Now switching to a hand whisk, mix the cream until bubbling and thick, transfer to a cool bowl and lay some cling film across the surface to stop a skin forming. When cool, use . . . →Pastry Cream
By l.martin, on July 24th, 2011 Bread, Yeast bread 
Week 3 of Dan Lepard’s series on flour from local wind and water mills brings us these cheese torpedoes. The courser, more robust mill flour gives a more satisfying dense crumb.
I subbed 10g water for 10g mustard as I had no dried. I also used a four year old Dutch cheese in place of cheddar.
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About Me I love food; cooking it, eating it and having prentious and mildly competative conversations about it. I also play guitar and enjoy the occasional glass of wine or seven.
Based in Tilburg, NL, this blog follows my adventures in food and cooking, trying to eat well in a land where you can buy a horse paste sausage from a vending machine.
For quality suppliers in and around the Tilburg area, see my page on Suppliers.
CHICKEN AND RED WINE?
Click here for my post on roast chicken and red wine
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