Sourdough Bread, Perfected, I think

Kneeding bread is a good exercise. No kneed bread is fine but a little kneeding makes better bread.

IMPORTANT INFO: Using antibacterial spray on your work surfaces prior to kneeding bread will kill the yeast. It makes no difference if it's bakers yeast or sourdough.

Those of you who have been following this blog over the years will know that I have been dabbling with sourdough for quite some time. I've had lots of failures as using sourdough is not as straightforward as using yeast. Now we need a drum roll as I believe that I have it sussed.  The result is a light soft bread with a crunchy crust that is all too good to eat. I just wish that I could share it with you all.

I actually cooked this bread in a cast iron pan as this helps to steam the outside of the loaf and create this crust.

Now, it takes time to make sourdough bread but it doesn't take much effort. A little weighing and mixing and leaving is all you have to know. It's the way that you do theses things that gets the results. You can even go wild and kneed it for a bit. I promise that it will make better bread if you do.

You will need a sourdough starter.

200g (100% hydration starter) This should be active and bubbly.
250g white bread flour
250g wholemeal flour
2 or 3 level teaspoons of salt. This depends on how salty you like your bread.
260g water. I always weigh mine as it is the most accurate way of doing it.

Put everything into a large mixing bowl. Mix together vigorously.

Cover with clingfilm or a damp cloth and leave to stand at room temperature for about half an hour.
Now you will need to lift the dough on one side, pull it up as high as it will go and fold it over  the middle remaining dough. Turn the dough a quarter turn and repeat this. Repeat the turning and pulling until all four sides of the dough have been folded over the middle of the dough.

If you can't be bothered to do this, I have found that if you turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and give it a kneed for about ten minutes, it achieves the same thing.

Cover and set aside for about another half an hour and repeat either of the stages that you choose from above.

Now cover and leave at room temperature for about 12 hours. By this time your bread will have tripled in size. It's a good idea to start this dough in the late evening and leave it overningt to bake next day. This way, you won't be tempted to cook it too early.

Shape your bread and leave to at least double in size. This could take anything up to 4 hours so be prepared to wait.

When you think that your bread is about half an hour away from being ready to cook, put your cast iron pan in the oven and heat the oven to 240C.

Remove the pan from the oven pop in the bread. Slash the top return to the oven with the lid on and bake for about 45 minutes. You should remove the lid about 25 minutes into the bake. This will help to crisp the crust.

Enjoy

Rum Custard Tartlets

This little custard tart is deceptive. It is small and cute but it is packed full of flavour and delicious as only a classic tart can be. I wanted to make something like the Portugese custard tarts that look fantastic but when I make them the puff pastry push the filling out and ruins the effect. So I opted for a more classic tart and this is what I've come up with.
Sweet Pastry

150 g flour

½ teaspoon baking powder
75g softened butter
50g sugar

Make the pastry by rubbing the ingredients for the pastry together and add a little water to bind.


Roll out and line a greased, pastry shapes. As you may have guessed I used my silicone ones as I love them.
Bake the pasrty cases blind. You only need to colour them slightly. Not too brown. The oven should be about 180.

Now for the filling:
To make this good and rich you will need
4 egg yolks
3 tbs sugar
two tbs dark rum
250ml whipping cream I made these in Italy and there is cream period - and there is no distinction between double and whipping. I am guessing that what is available is only whipping.

Add the sugar, and rum to the egg yolks and, mix well to break down the yolks.
Warm the cream to just below boiling point and add to the egg mixture mixing well.
Pour the mixture in to the part cooked cases and return to a medium oven until they have taken on a golden tinged.

Cool, dust with icing sugar and enjoy.

Millefoligie of frutti di bosco

When I was in Italy this summer I did a lot of cooking but not a lot of blogging. I had to feed the family for much of the time so I sort of saved my posts up so that I could put them on the site in the autumn when I had the time. The time has arrived, but I won't inundate you with posts as I will save them up. One of the best things about cooking in Italy though is the light when taking the photographs. it is so much better to take a photograph on a sunny day than a dank day in the winter in Britain.

This pudding is so easy to make and I must admit that I did rather cheat as I used a bought puff pastry.

So, roll out your pastry or, if it is ready rolled place it on a baking sheet and prick well with a fork. Dust with icing sugar as this helps to disguise that it's not home made and makes it taste better too. Cook at about C200 for as long as it takes to brown well. I don't like flabby pastry so cook until nice and brown. Press it down if it has risen too much. When cool cut in half so that you have two long strips.

For the filling. Make up a packet of instant custard with about 2/3 of the water than it says on the packet. Stir in a level tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Leave to become completely cool.

Whisk up 250ml of whipping cream or double cream and when it is at the floppy stage stir into the cold custard. Spread over one half of the puff pastry and top with the remaining pastry.

Spoon the fruits of the forest over the top.

To make the fruits of the forest topping, I picked whatever I could fine and mixed it with as much sugar as I thought that it needed to make it acceptable. I like mine sharp. It also depends on the ripeness of the fruit. The ones that I used were fairly sharp. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar and then set aside to cool. Store in the fridge if you are going to keep it for  awhile.

If you don't want to put the fruit on the top, you can serve it on the side. it will still bring a smile to a little girl's day.

Brown Sugar Cupcakes

This recipe for brown sugar cupcakes is a fantastic recipe as it has the flavour of caramel without the faff of having to make it so go right ahead and make some.

The other day I bought a cup cake book from TX Max. I couldn't resist the bargain and I must say that it is one of the best books that I've bought in a long while. This recipe is an adaptation of the one that I found in the book.

Ingredients for all of those who want to make this.

200g Plain Flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

125g Butter at room temperature

125 Sugar (half granulated and half muscovado)

2 large Eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

125 ml milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a 12 cupcake pan with paper liners. This will give you very largew cupcakes. Alternatively line about 18 medium size cupcake pans.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl beat the sugar, butter, and vanilla for 1 minute on medium speed. Scrape side of bowl with a spatula.

Add eggs and milk to the mixture and beat for 1 minute on medium speed. Scrape bowl again. Beat on high speed for 1 minute 30 seconds until well mixed. Fold in the flour mixture.

Spoon cupcake batter into paper liners until 1/2 to 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 5 minutes in pans then remove and place on wire racks to cool completely.

Once cupcakes are completely cooled, frost with the brown sugar topping.

Ingredients for topping

1 oz cornflour
1/2 pint milk
3 oz butter
6 tsp muscovado sugar
few drops of vanilla essence

Method

- Mix the cornflour with a little of the milk to form a smooth paste.
- Bring the rest of the milk to the boil.
- Pour the hot milk over the cornflour paste.
- Return to the heat and bring to the boil.
- Cook for 3 minutes.
- Cream the sugar and butter together.
- Gradually whisk in the cornflour mixture.
- Add the vanilla essence.
- Allow to cool.

Swirl over the cupcakes and top with caramel sprinkles.

Torta di Ricotta my way

Torta di ricotta is an Italian version of cheesecake but it a very light one compared with the usual American version. In the picture you can see a fairly yellow cheesecake and this is because the eggs in Italy are a beautiful yellow colour and all of the things that are made with them look delicious.

This kind of cake often has pine nuts sprinkled on top but, while I like pine nuts on things, they are expensive in Italy and I prefer almonds so that is what I used.

What you will need:
Pastry
150 g flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
75g softened butter
50g sugar

Filling:
250g tub of ricotta
grated rind of 1 orange
100g sugar
100ml double cream
3 medium eggs
1 teaspoon of cornflour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
apricot jam
flaked almonds
icing sugar

Make the pastry by rubbing the ingredients for the pastry together and add a little water to bind.
Roll out and line a greased, deep flan dish. I used an 8 inch dish that was about 2 inches deep.
Bake blind for about 15 minutes and remove from the oven. When the pastry case has cooled a little spread a thin layer of jam on the base.

For the filling
Bring the cream to scalding point.
Blend the sugar the eggs and the cornflour and pour on the hot cream, stirring well to avoid getting any of those so annoying lumps.
Add the ricotta, the grated rind of 1 orange and vanilla essence and mix quickly together to get a smooth cream.

Pour over the jam lined pastry and sprinkle with as many flaked almonds as you like.

Cook at 160C for about 30 mins. The cooking time really will depend on your oven. What you need to aim for is a filling that is set but still slightly wobbly. It will set up as it cools.

When cool dust with icing sugar and enjoy.

Chocolate and Apricot Muffin Cake

Chocolate and Apricot are two of my very favourite ingredients along with muffins so what could be better than this scrummy cake? An easy to make one!




So the wish for an easy to make cake is granted and this is what you'll need:

250g self raising flour
125g soft butter
125g sugar
2 eggs
a couple of spoons of milk or more, depending on the consistance of the batter.
100g chopped dark chocolate
100g chopped dried apricots
a few drops of almond essence.

1. Put all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together
2. Melt the butter and add the egg and the milk.
3. Pour over the dry ingredients and give it a swift mik to blend the ingredients but please do not over mix otherwise you'll have a heavy stodge of a cake. Now is the time to add a little more milk if you think that the batter is too dry.
4. Pour the mixture into a greased shallow tin aboput 10 inches by 8 inches. The bigger the tin the thinner the cake. If you would prefer a deeper cake then cook in a smaller tin but remember that it will take longet to cook.
5. Bake at 170 C for about 45 mins, or until brown and dry in the middle when tested with a skewer.
6. When the cake has cooled dust with icing sugar and cut in to squares.

This cake is wonderful with a cup of tea or coffee for a mid morning break.

Strawberry Cheesecake

A couple of weeks ago we had a party for my grand daughter's second birthday. As I had lots of cooking to do for the party, so, the things that I made had to be put together fairly quickly and this cake, may look complicated but it is really easy to make.


Many of you may well have seen a cake similar to this one in patissierie shops. They are called fraisiers. The filling is usually a butter cream but this one has my trusty cream cheese filling which whips up in a trice and tastes divine.

First you will need to make the sponge. Get together:
2 eggs
80g castor sugar
70g self raising flour
A few drops of vanilla extract.

To make the sponge:

Preheat oven to 165C/fan, 185C, 350-375F. Line 2 X 8 inch sponge tins
Seive the flour.
Whisk the eggs and then whisk in sugar. This is best done over a pan of simmering water to give the eggs plenty of volume. When the mixture leaves a trail it is ready.
Fold in flour and divide between the 2 tins., or if you don't have 2 tins, in one deep tin and when the cake is cooked and cool slice it in half.
Remember that you don't want a deep cake as it will only hold the filling which is the star of the show.

To make the filling:

Put all of the ingresients in a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. It's that easy!

You will also need a large punnet of strawberries and some raspberried for the middle. These can be frozen.

To assemble:
Put one round of cake at the bottom of the spring sided tin and sprinkle with the kirtsch. put a little of the cheese mixture in the tin and then line the outside of the tin with the strawberries. Make sure that they are all about the same size. If they aren't trim to size. You should have the cut side of the strawberries outermost. Fill the space in the middle with the cheese mixture, the raspberries and press the remaining cake on top. Sprinkle with yet more liquere and put in the fridge to firm up. This should not take more than an hour.
Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Buon appetito.

Almond Croissants

Don't you just love almond croissants? They are the prize of the flavoured croissants as far as I am concerned and as far as my husband is as well. So it's a good thing to know that they can be reproduced easily and far more cheaply than those in the supermarket. However, you will need to rely on the supermarket for the basic butter croissants that are used here. I haven't gone the whole hog and made the croissants myself.

I don't know if you are aware of it but almond croissants were originalt produced by French bakers to use up stale croissant that they didn't want to dump. Someone had the bright idea of filling them with a frangipain mixture and the almond croissant was born and thank God for that is all that I can say.

These almond croissants are really easy to make and this recipe will make the filling and the topping for 6.

6 stale croissants... buy the reduced croissnts that the supermarket sells off. They are perfect for this and so cheap.

Filling
1 egg
70g of ground almonds
70g butter
70g caster sugar
a few drops of bitter almond essence
flaked almonds for the topping.

All you need to do is mix all of the filling ingredients, except the flaked almonds, together until you have a smooth paste.
Slice the croissants in half horizontally and fill with the croissant mixture. Be sure to keep some back to spread on top of the croissants and then sprinkle with flaked almonds as shown in the picture above.
Cook in a medium oven about 180 degrees C for about 10 to 15 mins. watch them as you don't want te mixture on top to over cook. The filling should still be a bit soft. It will continue to cook for a few minutes even when taken out of the oven. See the picture below.
Now, if you can resist and I do recommend that you do, leave them alone for about 10 minutes. This will allow the filling to finish cooking and the croissants to cool down to an acceptable temperature. They are not good if they burn your mouth.


Enjoy.

Apple Custard Tart

I seem to remember having read somewhere that the dessert that men usually choose is apple tart and they no doubt eat it with custard. So in this tart they get both of their favourites in one slice.

Pastry:

120g plain flour

75g butter

60g sugar

1 egg

I'm not going to bore you with the method for making pastry. You know what to do.

Line an 8 inch tim with the pastry and bake blind until light golden brown.

Filling

2 largish apples. I used renette as I was luck enough to have them growing on my tree, but you can use russets. 3 will probably be about right as they are small. I clean and slice the apples and put them in a layer on a microwave proof dish. Cover with cling film and microwave until just soft. If you do this your apples will stay golden and not brown.

2 eggs

50g sugar

1/4 litre of single cream

1 dessert spoon of cornflour

What you need to do:

mix the ecc, sugar and cornflour together. There is really no need to whisk them and all that faff. It really will not make any difference to the final; custard.

Heat the cream to just below scalding point and add to the egg mixture. Beat well while adding the cream. This is important as you risk curdling the eggs if you don't mix it really well while you're adding the hot cream. Return to the heat to cook the custard until it thickens but not so much that it curdles. The addition of the cornflour should prevent this. Allow to cool slightly.

Pour the custard into the cooked pastry shell and cover with a layer of cooked apples.

Return to the oven for about 15 minutes to brown the apples and custard.

Cool before serving. Slightly warm is so good.

Chocolate and Coconut Cake

This cake is a very special one as I made it for my son-in-law. While he was here with me earlier on this summer he put in a request for a Chocolate and Coconut cake, but I couldn't make him one as I didn't have a suitable recipe. Now that everyone has gone home, I have the time to experiment and this is what I've come up with. I'll make it agin when I get home, but for the moment, he will just have to look and drool.

Ingredients:
For the chocolate

egg75g self-raising flour

75g sugar

75g butter10g cocoa

Put everything in a bowl and mix well to form a stiffish sponge.
Put the mixture in to an 8cm round tin and cook at 180C for about 20 mins.Cool the cake.

For the Coconut layer
1 packet of instant custard mix.

2 heaped tablespoons of dessicated coconut

1 dessertspoon of sugar

Make the custard as directed on the packet and then add the other ingredients. The coconut should thicken the mixture quite considerably and then it can be spread on the cooled chocolate cake.

For the chocolate coating:

100g of plain chocolate

50g butter

1 tablespoon of golden syrup

Gently heat these ingredients together until they become a thick paste. When cool enough pour over the cake and spread over the sides.Put in the fridge to cool and then slice abd enjoy!
This cake is best stored in the fridge as it has custard in the centre.

Cannelloni filled with Broccoli and Ricotta

These broccoli and ricotta cannoli are just the thing to fill you on a cold autumn night and as that's what we're going to have in the next few weeks, you'd better get cooking straight away. They also freeze well so you can make them up to the pre-bake stage and freeze until you want them.

What you need to make these for 4 people:

12 sheets of lasagne pasta. You can use fresh of dried.

1 large head of broccoli

250g ricotta

100g freshly grated parmesan

salt. pepper

1 egg

fresh breadcrumbs if needed

I tin of tomatoes

1 medium onion

1 clove of garlic

Hot chicken stock

1/2 pt of white sauce

What you do:

Steam the broccoli until tender and then mash roughly.

Add the egg, ricotta, parmesan, salt and pepper and enough bread crumbs to make a soft mixture. You don't want it to be sloppy as you will have to roll it in the pasta.

Now make the tomato sauce, by frying the onion and garlic in a little oil until lightly golden brown. Add the tomatoes and and about half a tin of hot stock. Simmer gently for about an hour until the sauce is reduced, season to taste.

Cook the lasagne sheets until soft enough to roll. Drain and lie them out on the work surface.

Divide the filling equally between the pasta sheets and then roll up. Make sure than the fold is under the cannelloni so that they do not open while cooking.

In a large roasting pan or baking pan that will hold the cannelloni in one layer add about 2 large spoons of tomato sauce. The tomato sauce should not be too thick. Place cannelloni side by side in the pan leaving a tiny space between each cannelloni. Cover with additional tomato sauce and the white sauce.

Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over top. Bake the cannelloni for about 1 hour.

Tea Time Scones

The sun has been shining today and that really is a surprise, even though it is July. It's the time of year that you should expect a guarantee of sunshine but this year the weather has been dreadful So by way of a celebration we are having tea in the garden with the speciality of the British cream teas: scones.
This one is brimming with cream and home made jam which makes anyone, even those with iron wills, unable to resist taking a mouthful.

To make these scones you will need:

225g/8 oz self-raising flour

1/4 tsp salt

50g/2 oz butter

50g sugar

1 egg

100ml milk, plus extra to glaze

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425 F/Gas 7. If you are using a convection/fan oven drop the temperature 25 degrees. Grease a baking sheet.
2. Sift the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Rub in the butter and sugar until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the flour and break in the egg gradually pour in most of the milk, mixing quickly with the tips of your fingers as you pour. DO NOT ADD ALL THE MILK AT ONCE. You should get a soft but not wet dough. It should look rough. If the dough is too wet it will expand sideways instead of rising straight up.
3. On a lightly floured board, gently bring together the dough and roll or press out until it’s 2.5cm/1 inch thick and stamp out into rounds. I used a 4cm/2 inch cutter and made 7 rounds. In between each stamp, dip the cutter in flour and with a firm shake downwards release the scone directly onto the baking sheet- try not to press with your fingers or you will misshape the dough. It is also important to cut directly down into the dough, if you twist then they will rise unevenly. Another important point is to roll the dough out evenly. If the dough is on a slope before you cut out the scones, then the finished scone will also be like a downhill ski slope.
4. Place on the baking sheet and brush with extra milk. Depending on size bake for 15-20 minutes, or until risen and golden.
   

If you've made them the right way then this is what they should look like. If you haven't then who cares if they are a bit lumpy as they will taste good even if they look like a landslide.

Almost Store Cupboard Ham Pie

This pie is great because it is so simple and can be made from a tin or good quality ham when you have very little else to feed a fair number of people.

Firstly you need to make the pastry:

250g/9oz Plain Flour

125g/4.5oz cold unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp ice water

heaped tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Put the flour and butter in a dish, and put the dish in your freezer for 10 minutes.
Stir together the yolks, salt and water in a cup, and put the cup in the fridge.
When the time is up, tip the flour and butter into a food processor, add the sugar and pulse to combine, it will look somewhere between sand and porridge oats.
Pour in the egg yolk mixture and pulse till it looks like it's on the verge of coming together (stop just short of it binding). You may need to add more water.
Turn the dough out and mash together with your hands.
Once it is all bound together wrap in cling film, and let rest in the fridge (generally about half an hour. If you are making a springform cake tin pie, then cut one piece slightly larger than the other (one for the base, one for the top).

Ingredients to make the pie filling:

500g of ham that you have boiled yourself. or failing that a 500g tin of ham from Marks and Spencer. Don't buy one of those awful tins of ham made from reformed pieces. the better the ham, the better the pie. 

125g mild cheddar

250g cream cheese

1 medium onion, fried until soft

2 tbsp chopped parsley (optional) I didn't use any in the pie in the picture as I didn't have any at the time.

1 or 2 eggs, lightly beaten, it depends on how soft the mixture is

freshly ground black pepper

1 heaped tbsp dried breadcrumbs

To Make the Pie:

Cube the ham and pulse in a food processor until coarsely chopped.

Transfer to a bowl and then add all the other ingredients except the breadcrumbs. Preheat to 200C/400F, and put in a baking sheet.
Roll out the larger disc of pastry to cover the bottom and sides of a 25cm springform tin with a cm of overhang.
Sprinkle the bottom with breadcrumbs, then fill with the mixture.
Roll out the rest of the dough to make a lid.
Fold the overhang over and seal by pressing down with the tines of a fork.
Just before baking glaze the pie with the milk salt egg combo, and stab it here and there with the prongs of a fork to make steam holes.
Bake at 200c/400f for 10 minutes, then turn it sown to 180c/350f and bake for a further 45 minutes. Leave the pie to cool at least 10 minutes, but 25 is better.

Cinnamon Almond Ring Coffee Cake

This is a superb recipe that I got from the following site.

http://www.cookscountry.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=3843&bdc=46116&extcode=L8CN1BG00



It's all explained there so there's no need for me to go into detail, except to say that the filling was so runny that I had to add more almonds to stop it running off the dough.


It's delicious with coffee and even on it's own when no ones looking. I suggest that you keep it in the cupboard out of sight. Saying that it does not keep fresh for longer than a day or two so bake when there are lots of people coming around for brunch.

Lemon Curd Cake

I must admit that I have a weakness for lemony things as well as sweet things so this lemon curd cake ticks all of the boxes for me and luckily enough most other people in my family like it too.

This cake is basically a victoria sandwich that is cooked in a tin that is bigger than the usual so that the end result is thin rather than thick. I make a 2 egg sponge and cook it in an oblong cake mold 27cm x 17cm. i have one of those fantastic silicone ones that never have to be greased and that the food pops out of without effort.

Sponge Recipe:
110g (4oz) Butter
110g (4oz) Caster Sugar
125g (5oz) Self-raising Flour
2 Eggs
1 tsp Grated Lemon Rind

Preheat oven to 190°C: 375°F: Gas 5.
Beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy.
Add the beaten eggs gradually with a little of the flour.
Fold in the remaining sieved flour and add the flavouring.
Mix in about a tablespoon of water as this makes the cake lighter.

Turn the mixture out into the oblong tin.
Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.
Turn out on to a wire rack to cool.
When cool cut in half widthways. One half will be the top of the cake while the other will be the bottom.

To make the lemon curd:

Makes three 1 lb (350 ml capacity) jars
Ingredients
grated zest and juice 1 large juicy lemon
2 small eggs
4oz (110 g) caster sugar
2oz (60 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small lumps
1 level teaspoon cornflour

Begin by lightly whisking the eggs in a medium-sized saucepan, then add the rest of the ingredients and place the saucepan over a medium heat.
Now stir continuously, using a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens – about 7-8 minutes. Next, lower the heat to its minimum setting and let the curd gently simmer for a further minute, continuing to mix. After that, remove it from the heat.
Now pour the lemon curd into the hot, sterilised jars, filling them as full as possible, cover straightaway with waxed discs, seal while it is still hot and label when it is cold. It will keep for several weeks, but it must be stored in a cool place.

For the filling:

The lemon curd as made above and 1/4 pt of double cream.

To make the filling mix the cold lemon curd with whipped cream. and fill the sponge. Dust with icing sugar and cut into squares. You can cut them small to kid yourself that you are not having too much but then you can always eat two or even three.

Crostata di Marmellata

In many parts of Emiglia Romagna you will see this little tart in most pastry shops. Translated it simply means ‘jam tart’. Don’t let that fool you because this is not a children’s tea time favourite but a tart that is suitable for all ages and it will disappear all too soon. It’s probably the brandy in the jam that makes all of the difference. You need to have the presence of mind to hide some in the cupboard so that you can savour some all for yourself when everyone has gone and you can sit down with a cuppa or a glass of sweet, sparkling, white wine. Bliss. To make this tart you will need to start by making ‘pasta frolla’ or sweet pastry as it's known in Italy. Now, if I am honest there are as many versions of this as there are homes in Italy. Everyone will have their little twist on the recipe. Most of the recipes in books will tend to have a far higher ratio of sugar than I use here. They also have less butter. What I do is make a fairly rich buttery pastry, to which I add a teaspoon of lievito ( Italian baking powder ). I tend to use the Paneangeli make and unlike the manufacturer’s instructions, I add it to the flour rather than at the end which is what they tell you to do. I can’t see how it will mix in properly if you do that. 

  Ingredients for Pasta Frolla 

 200g plain flour. If you can get ‘00’ flour this is the best. 

1 teaspoon of lievito

120g butter I used salted. If you use unsalted you will need to add a big pinch of salt.

90g sugar The finer the sugar, the crispier the pastry.

2 egg yolks

Grated rind of half a lemon or a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

 Start by creaming the butter, lemon rind and the sugar.

 When you have creamed the mixture for about 5 minutes, beat in the egg. 

Mix in the flour and lievito until the mixture comes together and forms a soft dough. You are not going to roll this dough out so it does not have to be too firm. If you need to roll it out then put in the fridge for 30 minutes. The butter will firm up.

Remove about 1/3rd of the dough and set aside. You will use this to make the top later. Press the remaining 2/3rds over the base of a 30cm buttered baking tin. 

  Now the Jam You can buy the jam for making this tart in Italy. It is called prunellata and it usually has a picture of a crostata on the jar so that you know that you are buying the right thing. The thing that marks this jam out from all others is that it's sharp. I love it and so do most of my friends. It needs to be sharp to prevent the tart from being too sweet. If you can’t get this jam, I suggest that you buy a morello cherry jam. If you do, however, substitute the brandy with kirsch. For a tart of this size you will need about 400g of jam. Add two tablespoons of brandy to the jam and mix well. Spread over the base of the tart, leaving about 1 cm of pastry uncovered. Now roll out the remaining pastry into long sausages and, starting with the edges of the tart, create a lattice over the top of the tart as shown in the photo. Cook in a medium oven until the tart is cooked and golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin and when cold, dust with icing sugar and cut into pieces and serve.

Mirabelle Plum Tartlettes

As some of you from the Italy Magazine may well know I have been blessed and perhaps cursed by a glut of Mirabelle plums. When I first saw them on the trees I couldn't believe that I had been so lucky. They shone golden and tempting in the afternoon light and I couldn't wait to eat them warm from the tree. I had pictures of Elizabeth David's descriptions of eating apricots warm from the tree on my mind. Well. I'm glad to say that that delight did not fall short of the expectation and the ripe plums were honey sweet and delicious.

Where does the curse come into the equation? There are so many. It is impossible to eat them all so the great cook in of the plums had to begin and I have started with these delectable little tartlettes to whet your appetites.





First the pastry
150g plain flour
90g butter
1 egg
50g sugar

Make the pastry by creaming the butter and sugar until soft and white. Beat in the egg and then add the flour and lievito. Mix together to form the pastry. If it is too soft then add a little more flour. This should not be as firm as a traditional pastry as it will not be rolled out, but pushed into the tartlette cases instead. Now proceed to do just that.

Divide the pastry into approximately 12 pieces and pat each piece into shape in the tartlette tins.

I've become a convert of the silicone bakewear that has flooded the market in the last few years. It is easy to use, the things that you bake in it don't stick and it is easy to wash. End of discussion as far as I am concerned. Another advantage for using silicone bakewear for making these tartlettes is that they can remain in the cases until cool. They can then be pushed out without having to resort to a knife to prise them out. This is especially good for rich pastries.
Remove the stones from about 24 plums and push, skin side up into the pastry. I didn't bother to sugar the plums as they take their sweetness from the pastry and I like a little sharp contrast to the pastry.

Bake in the oven at about gas mark 5 until they are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and when cool enough take out of the cases. Do not do this too soon as the pastry is rich and will break when warm.

Dust with icing sugar, or if in Italy, buy the sugar that is sold for dusting as it will not melt. Now eat them. But I didn't need to tell you that, did I?.