Christmas Roast

If you, like I, are hosting Christmas this year, make all the preparations so you can enjoy the day.
I’m celebrating Christmas on the 24th so this evening I made the roast which will be used for cold-cuts on Tuesday.

This is what you need;

4.5 kg pork shoulder joint
2tbsp white pepper
2tsbp sea salt
1tbsp cracked black pepper
500g unsalted butter

Preheat your oven to 180 fan or gas mark 4.
If the crackling isn’t already scored do so then put the joint in a roasting tray and put all the dry spices on  then 1/3rd of the butter on top (this will be the base for your gravy) of the pork joint. You will need to roast this in the oven for 1 hour/kg, every 15 min oven the oven and with a spoon pour the melted butter then after 1 hour add the 2/3rd of the butter and so one until you have used all the butter and you have a hard crackling. Once done transfer to a cooling rack and when the pork has cooled a bit wrap it in foil and store in i a cool place, but not the fridge as it dries out.

Once this is done you will have loads of meat juice/bits and butter in your tray, pour all of this into a big saucepan, then add water into the tray and boil so you get all the flavor out and add to the saucepan. Then add twice the amount of water and bring to a boil, in a mug mix 2 tbsp of normal flour and 1/5 cup of water and mix so you don’t have any lumps, if you do it’s fine as you have to strain the gravy later anyway.
Mix little by little of the paste in and whisk until the gravy until it’s as thick as you want it season to taste and put into a container, you can put it in the freezer or in the fridge until you need to heat it up again.

Enjoy x

GINGERBREAD

THE ultimate Christmas bake!

This dough made about 30 biscuits and a fairytale house.

This is what you need;

225g unsalted butter
12 tbsp golden syrup 200g caster sugar
100g light muscovado sugar
1tsp all spice
2 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp milk
900g plain flour
3 tsp bicarbonate soda

This recipe is super easy to make and give quite the result.
This is how you do it;

Preheat the oven to 180 fan, gas mark 4. Put butter, syrup and sugar into a sauce pan, over  medium heat stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the spices, once fully incorporated put your flour and stir vigorously add the milk to make the dough smoother.Leave to cool before you roll out to £1 tick cookies, bake in the middle of the oven  for 9 min, depending on your oven but they burn pretty quick so keep an eye on them.

If you are making a ginger bread house make sure that all the pieces are of equal thickness and make your blueprints before you start. If you want the measurements that I used just email me and I’ll send them over.

For the piping, mix 500g icing sugar, 2 egg whites and 1 tsp lemon juice divide into bowls and add 2 drops of the food colouring of your liking.

This is the perfect past time and if you have kids I can promise that this will keep the occupied for a few hours.
Enjoy x

A little tip, take a straw and make a hole in the ginger bread before baking and they will make fantastic place cards, Tree decorations and Christmas present tags.

Sourdough

Lack of blogs I know! But I am planning something very exciting so watch this space!

Now for this bread you need a sourdough starter, this needs to be prepared at least 1 week before you want to bake but the longer you leave it the nicer it tastes.

Take an airtight jar and add 75g rye (or wholemeal) flour and 75g of lukewarm water and mix, close the lid and leave for 24 hours and do the same for 7 days then let it sit in the fridge until you want to use it.

This bread is for the bread lovers, you need time and patience this loaf  as it roughly takes 15 hours to make.

Makes 1 loaf

This is what you need;

300g sourdough starter
500g strong bread flour (now I use strong Canadian bread flour)
200ml warm water5g sea salt

And that’s all you need!

Chuck everything in a bowl and mix, once mixed together get ready to be frustrated!
This is a super wet dough but don’t give up, after 20 min of vigorous kneading you will be left with a smooth dough, still sticky but not as bad, now put that back in the bowl and leave it for 3-4 hours.
turn the dough out and shape into a small loaf, then flour a breadbasket and put the dough in there, cover with clingfilm and let it rest for 12 hours.

Heat your oven to 225 and put a baking trey in the bottom of your oven.
Turn the dough out on a grease proof baking trey and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 min, just before you close the oven door chuck in a cup of ice water in the baking trey.

Now your bread is done. let it cool on a cooling rack then cut a slice and enjoy with some cheese and chutney, Yummy!

White Loaf

Getting a great white loaf right is really hard, but once you got it it’s absolutely amazing, the key to the perfect loaf is great ingredients and patience.

Makes 1 amazing loaf, this will take around 3 hours to make.

This is what you need:
560g Strong Bread flour (I use strong organic Canadian bread flour)
5g of fast action dried yeast
5g salt (or 10g sea salt)
20g extra virgin olive oil
330ml warm water

Start by adding all the flour into a bowl, on one side add your yeast and your salt on the other side. Make a little hole in the middle and add the water and the oil. With your hand, start mixing the water in but start so you mix in the yeast first then mix everything together. Knead the dough in the bowl until all the flour is incorporated, then put it out on a lightly floured surface. Now start kneading your dough, knead for about 15 minutes and really stretch out the dough to create loads of gluten. Put it back into a floured bowl and cover with clingfilm until it’s doubled in size.

If the dough is ready, punch it down to get the air out and then form into a sausage shape and put into a oiled bread tin, dust it with flour and cover with a airtight bag so the loaf has room to grow. Let the loaf double in size, this should take around 1 hour.

Heat your oven to the highest temperature and put a roasting trey on the bottom of the oven.
Once your dough is ready to go, slash your loaf and put it in the oven, pour ice water into the roasting trey and take the oven temperature down to 210 fan, gas mark 6 and bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes.
Let the bread cool on a cooling rack once done, then slice it up and enjoy with a ton of butter.

Little tip: try and keep the same temperature in the room where your dough is rising and this will help the proving of the dough.