White Bread Loaf

Now I don't know about you guys, but when it gets to around about this time of year I just can't resist a freshly baked loaf.

I got this recipe from the back of the Allinson yeast packet.

Ingredients

650g Strong white bread flour

10g (2 tsp) Salt

5g (1 tsp) Sugar

15g Soft Butter or 1 tbsp Vegetable oil

7g Sachet of yeast

400ml Warm water

Step 1

Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl.

Step 2

Rub butter in or stir in the vegetable oil.

Step 3

Add warm water and mix to form a dough. Knead for 10 minutes on a floured surface until it is smooth and elastic.

Step 4

Place into your loaf tins.

Step 5

Preheat oven to 230 Degrees Celsius/450 Fahrenheit/ Gas Mark 8  (I did mine at about 190 Degrees Celsius in fan oven).

Step 6

Cover dough with cling film or a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until it doubles in size (I left mine in my airing cupboard!) Until it looks something like this.

Step 7

Put in the oven for around 30 minutes (i did mine for 20 minutes). Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Please leave any tips and suggestions in the comments below!

Thank you for stopping by! :)

Marble Cake

So today's recipe is not very linked to Christmas, but hey ho!

this recipe is from Paul Hollywood's 'How To Bake' and can be found here.

Ingredients

200g unsalted softened butter
200g caster sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
250g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
40ml milk (the recipe suggests full-fat, but I used semi-skimmed)
2 tsp cocoa powder
Icing sugar for dusting

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (about 160 in fan oven). Also line a loaf tin with baking parchment.

Step 2

Beat in the butter, 180g of sugar and vanilla extract together until it looks something like this.

Step 3

Beat in the eggs one at a time. After that sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in with 2 tbsp of milk. by this point it should look something like this.

Step 4

Put two thirds of the mixture into the loaf tin (filling the tin to about three-quarters full).

Step 5

Sift cocoa powder and the remaining 20g of sugar into the mixture and mix with the rest of the milk. Then pour the chocolate mixture into the loaf tin.

Step 6

Run a fork through the mixture, creating the marble effect.

Step 7

The recipe says to bake for 55-70 minutes. I baked it for about 45 minutes. However my fan oven has an innate ability to burn anything bigger than a muffin!

Step 8

Leave to cool on a wire rack and then dust with icing sugar.

Please leave any tips and suggestion in the comments below!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Shortbread Snow Children

Hi Guys!

Today's blog post is shortbread children. It is really simple and easy to make and doesn't take too long either (so not long to wait before you can gobble them up!)

This recipe is from the Mary Berry Baking Bible (it's under special shortbread biscuits) and can be found here.

So lets get started!

Ingredients

175g Plain Flour
75g Light muscavado sugar (I used caster sugar)

100g Butter

                         

You'll also need a girl and boy shaped cutter.

Step 1

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius/140 fan/Gas 3 and lightly grease 2 baking trays.

Step 2

Put flour and sugar into a large bowl and rub the butter in with your finger until a dough is formed.

Flour and sugar mixed together

Step 3

On a floured surface, roll out the dough and use the cutters to create the people.

Step 4

Transfer onto the baking trays and bake for 15-20 minutes (mine were done in 15).

Step 5

Leave to cool on wire rack for about 15-20 minutes.

Step 6

Decorate using writing icing pens, making them hats and scarves!

Please leave me any tips and suggestions in the comments below!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Cinnamon Trees

Hi Guys,

So as it is December I decided it was time to start Christmas baking.

This recipe is cinnamon trees. is a variation of the Woman's Weekly Shortbread Biscuit that are posted a couple of months ago.

The cookbook can be found here.

Ingredients

8oz/227g Butter
10oz/283g Plain flour
3oz/85g Caster sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
Writing icing pens to decorate (mine were from Sainsbury's)

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 190 Degrees Celsius/375 Degrees Fahrenheit/Gas Mark 5. (I did it in my fan oven at 170 Degrees Celsius).

Step 2

Mix the sugar and butter together until it looks something like this.

Step 3

Then rub in the flour until it turns into a dough.

Step 4

Roll out the dough onto a floured surface and cut out the shapes using a tree shaped cutter.

(Use smaller cutters for any dough that it left such as a small snowman.)

Step 5

Transfer onto baking tray and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.


Step 6

Decorate using writing icing pens and enjoy!

Please leave me any tips or suggestions in the comments below!

Thank you for stopping by! :)