Honey Wheat Bread

 

It's been quite a busy few days for baking.  There are three entries I need to compile for the blog (including this one) so best get a move on.

So, to kickstart it all, I present honey wheat bread!  Been a while since I've done bread and this one was a PAIN.  It all started as a reason to use up the leftover buttermilk again.  I really wish I could get smaller pots of buttermilk sometimes.  I always have leftovers I need to use up.  Anyway, I was originally looking at cake recipes but then saw one for honey wheat buttermilk bread, which sounded like it would be a nice one to make for the fiancé.  I really wanted to make him something yummy since he had an eleven hour shift on Sunday, starting at 7:30am, with a 6 mile cycle to get there.  Not fun.  But this bread sounded perfect.

And thus I set about making it.  Seemed easy enough though the dough was ridiculously sticky.  I ended up adding a bit more flour just to make it more manageable, though still sticky.  It proved to be an annoying dough, since it really didn't want to rise on the first go around.  Then when I knocked it back, re-kneaded and put it in the bread tin, it did rise, albeit very slowly and with considerable help from the electric heater.  But fine, it looked alright and so in the oven it went. 

Now when baking bread, you know it's down when it sounds hollow when tapped on the base.  I cooked it for the time recommended, pulled it out, flipped it and tapped it.  Thunk.  No hollow sound.  Okay, I thought, I'll just put it back in.  I did this at least 3 more times and still wasn't getting a good sound.  So in the end, I just pulled it and left it to cool, thinking that maybe I was mishearing it.

But then the cutting came.  When I've made bread previously, we've always eaten it almost fresh from the oven and it's been scrummy.  So I was unbelievably disappointed when I cut into the loaf and discovered the bottom half was still raw.  The fiancé still thought it tasted good but I was not happy.

 

On to round two.  I decided there could be many things that caused the problem: needing new yeast; not kneading enough; the recipe was intended for a breadmaker; should have left it to cool completely before cutting.  One of those had to be the cause, right?  So I found a very similar recipe, this one not intended for a breadmaker, and had the fiancé pick me up new yeast when he went to the supermarket (along with more buttermilk).  Again, I did what the recipe told me and thought this time around would be more successful.  But it wasn't.  It was still raw at the bottom.  The oven temperature was right.  The internal temperature of the bread was right.  I left it to cool before cutting but nope, still didn't work.

Now I was determined.  I was going to give it one more shot and this time I was going to do what I had been avoiding, which was using a recipe from the only bread book I own.  I had not turned to it before because I feel bad posting recipes from just one book (despite how awesome it is).  But the past two failures had pushed me to it so I flicked through and found something fairly similar, though not identical.  This recipe didn't have buttermilk in it (though I added some in instead of some of the milk) and it wasn't a yeasted dough.  So it was a very quick bread to make.

And it worked!  I was so happy.  It rose nicely and looked good when I cut it up.  Plus it was cooked through.  Honestly, The Big Book of Bread never steers me wrong.  No wonder I only own one bread book.

The fiancé also enjoyed it.  Throughout the trials, I'd used varying amounts of honey.  The first had 4 tbsp honey, and you could really taste it.  The second had 2 tbsp and didn't come through at all.  This recipe also called for 4, but I made it 3, because the fiancé said that something between the two previous ones would be perfect.  So the honey taste is subtler in this one, but still clearly there and would not clash with any topping you chose to put on the bread.

Recipe - adapted from The Big Book of Bread

Makes 1 x 20cm/8inch round loaf

• 450g/1lb wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 25g/1oz butter
• 3-4 tbsp runny honey
• 55ml/2fl.oz buttermilk
• About 200ml/7fl.oz milk

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and flour a baking tray.
2. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl.
3. Dice up the butter and add it to the dry ingredients.  Rub it in with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Add the honey and buttermilk and stir in.
5. Add the milk a little at a time, mixing everything together until you form a soft dough.  You might not need all the milk.
6. Knead the dough gently in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes. 
7. Shape into a 20cm/8inch round (a flattish circle) and place on the tray.
8. Use a sharp knife to cut three slits across the top of the dough.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes until it is risen and lightly browned.  It should sound hollow when tapped on the base.
10. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Cinnamon Swirl Cupcakes

This is another recipe I stumbled upon on one of my random perusals of other baking blogs.  It struck me as interesting as it is one of those cupcakes based on something else.  In this case, cinnamon swirls/rolls/buns.  Since the fiancé likes cinnamon I thought I would give it a go.

The only problem I had with the recipe I found is that it starts with a boxed cake mix.  I'm not keen on using boxed cake.  I like making everything from scratch.  So, since it was a butter cake, I went looking for a good butter cake recipe.  And found one.  With recipes in hand, I aimed for 12 muffin sized cupcakes since that is what I was supposed to get from the butter cake recipe.  Well...I did get 12 but really I think I should have split it into more.  The tins were slightly too full so when they rose, the batter spread out over the top and I ended up with mushroom looking cakes.  The one cake that turned out okay was made separately in a separate silicone cake case.

I also had a problem with the cakes sticking to their tins.  I had decided to not make them in cake cases because I thought it would be nice to see the cinnamon ring running through it.  It probably would have been okay though, if I'd done it in the silicone cases.  My silicone cake tins just seem to stick to what's in them, no matter how much I grease them, which is a shame.  Consequently, I ended up with some slightly broken cakes as well as mushroom topped.  Most of them survived intact, but I really regretted not putting them in cases.  Ah well, live and learn.

Despite their problems though, they still went down with the tasters.  The fiancé seemed to particularly like them since he ate four of the cakes himself.  I personally think they needed slightly more glaze but otherwise they were deemed yummy.

Recipe - adapted from Daily Eats and Hoosier Homemade

Makes about 18

Cake: 

• 225g/8oz self-raising flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 120g/4oz butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 225g/8oz caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 80ml/2.7fl.oz buttermilk

Cinnamon Sugar:

• 55g/2oz caster sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Streusel Topping:

• 80g/3oz brown sugar
• 60g/2oz butter
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 1.5 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Glaze:

• 80g/3oz icing sugar
• 2 tbsp milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line two 12 hole muffin tins with 18 cases.
2. Make the cake mix by beating the butter, sugar and vanilla extract together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at the time, beating after each addition until fully incorporated into the mix.
4. Add the flour and buttermilk alternately to the mix, mixing in after each addition.  Start with a third of the flour, then half the milk.  Another third of flour, the rest of the milk and then the last of the flour.  Set aside.
5. Make the cinnamon sugar by mixing together the cinnamon and caster sugar in a small bowl.
6. Make the streusal topping by first melting the butter.
7. Combine the other dry ingredients in a bowl and then add a little butter at a time, mixing it in until it takes on a crumbly texture.
8. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of cake batter into each of the cases, making sure the bottoms are covered.
9. Next cover the batter in each case with the cinnamon sugar.
10. Spoon another tablespoon of batter on top to cover the sugar, then sprinkle on the streusel topping.
11. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until cakes are springy and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
12. Allow to cool in their tins for a bit before transferring to a wire rack.
13. Make the glaze by combining the icing sugar with the milk.
14. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cupcakes and leave to set.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes with Brown Butter Sauce and Raspberry Jam Buttercream

Quite a wordy title for this one, isn't it?  So this Monday's bake came about as a result of wanting to use up the remaining buttermilk from the Nutella cupcakes because I end up letting it go off otherwise, which is wasteful.  However, I didn't have the hugest amount left over (only 50ml) so didn't want a recipe that required too much of it.  I also wanted something that sounded a bit different and would be interesting to make.

Well, I found such a thing: vanilla buttermilk cake with brown butter sauce.  Sounded intriguing enough and I had everything, or at least enough for a half batch.  This was fine because I usually find half a batch of cake batter works out at about 12 cupcakes anyway.  So I set about making them...only I messed up by not realising until part way through that I'd not halved the ingredients.  I am seriously scatterbrained at the moment.  Oh dear.  This was problematic since I now didn't have enough buttermilk and didn't want to start over.  So I made up the amounts with a homemade version using milk and lemon juice.  I also added about a tablespoon of whipped double cream to get a slightly thicker consistency.  Really I wanted to make proper buttermilk by whipping double cream until I got butter and buttermilk, but it just would not work for me, which I think is down to the fact that I use Elmlea, which is not actual cream but a cream substitute.  I only found that out recently actually.  It made me rather happy because it meant all my recipes that don't involve milk are actually dairy free, since both my cream and butter are vegetable oil substitutes.

Anyway, yes, had to make up the amount of buttermilk.  However, this worked out for the best because it meant I had enough mixture to make 12 muffin sized cupcakes.  I will also note I used one less egg than the recipe called for, just because.  It didn't seem to be detrimental to the final result.  Then there was the brown butter sauce, which gets drizzled over the cakes once they come out the oven to give it a different texture.  I honestly don't think I got it as thick as I was meant to, and I had far too much for the amount of cake.  Also, because it ran over the sides of the cakes, it made the cases a bit sticky on the bottom and I had to put them on kitchen paper to absorb it all.  Hence I'll be recommending to bake without them in the write-up.

As for the buttercream, the recipe I was using serves the cake with a fruit compote.  The ingredients and method for making a compote reminded me of jam and, since I had recently made buttercream that tasted like jam, I thought that would make a nice compliment to the cupcake, albeit this time I made it with raspberry jam rather than strawberry.

I will admit, I was dubious as to how this would come together.  But I needn't have worried.  My taste testers loved them.  One wants a bowl just of the buttercream for their birthday, which I was quite pleased to hear.  Part of me thinks that's down to the quality of the jam, since it was homemade by the fiancé's sister.  And it's true what they say: good quality ingredients results in great tasting food.  The fiancé said the cakes were lovely, light and fluffy and the flavour was indescribable but was sweet and very scrumptious.  So good reviews it seems.  Hoorah!

Recipe - adapted from Schwartz

Makes about 12 

Cakes:

• 200g/7oz plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 200g/7oz granulated sugar
• 115g/4oz butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 125ml/4fl.oz buttermilk
• 1 heaped tbsp whipped double cream

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and liberally grease a 12 hole muffin tin with butter.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition.
4. Add the vanilla extract and beat in.
5. Gradually add the flour and buttermilk to the mixture, alternating between the two, and mix in.
6. Add the cream and mix in until smooth.
7. Fill the muffin tins about 2/3 of the way up each hole.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden and springy and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
9. Whilst cakes are baking, make the butter sauce.

 Brown Butter Sauce:

• 40g/1.5oz butter
• 50g/1.8oz granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 20ml/0.7fl.oz water

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, and at the same time, mix the water, sugar and vanilla extract together in a small bowl.
2. When the butter has turned a caramel brown colour, add the sugar mix and whisk together until blended and smooth and ever so slightly thicker in consistency.
3. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
4. When the cakes come out the oven, leave them in their tin and use a skewer to poke 5 holes in the top of each one.
5. Pour the butter sauce over the top of each cake and then leave them to cool and absorb the sauce in the tin.
6. Once cooled, you can decorate with the buttercream.

Buttercream:

• 115g/4oz butter
• 225g/8oz icing sugar
• 2 tbsp seedless raspberry jam
• Red food colouring

1. Put the jam in a small saucepan and warm through until runny.
2. Reserve 3 teaspoons worth of jam and put the rest in a bowl along with the icing sugar, butter and food colouring, mixing them together until you get a smooth buttercream.
3. Put the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and pipe a swirl of buttercream in the centre of each cake.
4. Drizzle 1/4 tsp of the remaining jam over each cake for decoration.