Let me be clear - I am no expert, especially when it comes to buns. But I wanted to give them a try and browsing led me to a recipe for pannetone in The Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas. I thought maybe I could change a few things and come up with a tray of …
Category: bakery
Salmon en croûte
Something a bit different for Christmas week. Light the fire, put on Ski Trails* and imagine you are holed up in a little Alaskan cabin with snow to the door, Arcturis in the sky and plenty of this season's salmon in the cache.
Chicken pot pie
This pie has no pastry base, and a flaky pastry crust. You can make it deep or shallow, depending on how high you want the pastry to filling ratio to be. If you prefer a bottom crust, I would suggest shortcrust, precooked before the filling is added. There is no need for gravy, but go ahead if you like it.
American Pie, Virginia
I have not made pecan pie since November the 22nd, 2012. I am out of practice and my first attempt didn't turn out well, not at all. But I've learned that people enjoy stories of failure and this is one. Just look at the picture. What was wrong with my pecan pie? The crust was …
Pizza nite! (and calzones too)
Pizza nite was always a happy evening, usually starring mother's pastry pizzas - more to say about them soon. With the weather here generally awful, and a second lockdown in force, sometimes it is hard to be upbeat. But today the sun shone and my neighbour and I had a much needed walk across the …
Fougasse
My father was particular about baked goods. His grandmother came from a family of confectioners in Swansea and standards were high. Like you, probably, I have until now bought fougasse at an up market bakery chain. And it is very good. But lately I have been having a go at making my own. Not as …
Hittin’ the note – pastry ideas
What do Elizabeth David and the Allman Brothers Band have in common? Apart from the ramblin', they used to hit the note more often than most people.
Bakes! Joy
I woke up this morning, took one look at the standard supermarket sliced brown bread and almost lost my appetite. My 5-year-old granddaughter chimed in: ‘I don’t want that either!'I decided to make what was a life-saver during lockdown when yeast was nowhere to be seen. Bakes! A Caribbean staple that used to be ‘poor …
Fruit pie
This is a pie because it has pastry on the bottom and on the top. The pastry may be shortcrust, flaky or rough puff - just use your favourite.
Happy Birthday brownies – revisited
This recipe comes from one of my favourite books, Cooking Texas Style by Cindy Wagner and Sandra Marquez. My copy was purchased at the Alamo in 1991. I have been making the brownies ever since. Some years I get confused about cups and ounces and am still not totally sure what a cup of butter is but have done my best to translate the recipe into metric units. I’ve made some changes - halving the sugar...
Cooking for one 