Baked anything tasty lately?

New Home · 21-09-2022 10:04pm

I don't have a mixer, so I use my Lidl bread machine just to knead the dough for white bread, as I find it needs more kneading and proving time than the machine gives it even with the longest programme, then I bake it in the oven. It was a lifesaver during the lockdown.

I'd say it'd work well for anything that doesn't need to incorporate much air. A short programme would do very well for soda bread, IMO.

leahyl · 21-09-2022 11:43pm

Made banana and pecan muffins recently - they were delicious! It’s a bbc good food recipe

Gloomtastic! · 22-09-2022 5:43am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119648276#Comment_119648276

Soda bread is the easiest bread in the world to make. I think using a bread maker would be overkill. And then you have that annoying hole in the bottom.

MacDanger · 22-09-2022 8:06am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119648908#Comment_119648908

I know that, I was just thinking about it in terms of energy usage, the bread maker would presumably use less.

phormium · 22-09-2022 2:05pm

I haven't used a breadmaker but you'd want to be able to basically not mix it at all and just bake it, maybe it's an option to just make it by hand and bake in breadmaker but any amount of kneading especially by machine will ruin soda bread and make it dense.

MacDanger · 22-09-2022 2:41pm

It seems from the replies that a bread maker mixes dough as well as baking it? I always thought it just did the baking, every day's a school day I guess

phormium · 22-09-2022 3:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119650870#Comment_119650870

AFAIK it definitely mixes it, that's part of the attraction, just put it all in and let it do it's thing! Does all the kneading for you as well as the baking.

The oven use is getting expensive alright and soda bread needs a hot preheated oven, I am making some tomorrow, only thing is it freezes well so I will make at least 3 batches and maybe 4 at the one time!

Caranica · 22-09-2022 7:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119651242#Comment_119651242

Could probably bake it in an airfryer

phormium · 22-09-2022 8:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119652171#Comment_119652171

Possibly, I have a halogen oven that I regularly bake scones in, have not tried soda bread in it, maybe I'll try some tomorrow! Would have to spoil a loaf though 🤨

Caranica · 22-09-2022 8:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119652258#Comment_119652258

I've just upgraded my air fryer as I intend using it for everything I used to use the oven for. Between that and the instant pot the plan is not to use the oven unless I've guests. Have bought a whole lot of silicone bakeware to help

New Home · 22-09-2022 10:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119651242#Comment_119651242

That's it exactly.

@MacDanger The machine gives you different programmes with different durations for kneading, resting, kneading again, adding other ingredients, proving and then baking (you can even select how brown you want your loaf). You can start a programme that does the the lot in one go, or select the individual functions. I find that even with the longest programme, though, the kneading isn't enough and the bread turns out crumbly, rather than crunchy or soft, so I do a shorter mixing programme at the beginning, then I let the gluten do its thing for 10 mins or so, then I add the fat, then I let the machine knead it again for a time that goes between 45 mins and a little over an hour (the machine isn't as efficient as a mixer, the paddles aren't as effective). Then I finish the process away from the machine and bake it in the oven as the loaf tend to rise a lot and I'm afraid it'd spill over and end up on the heating elements of the machine.

For brown bread you can use the shortest programme available or even select the individual steps yourself.

woodchuck · 25-09-2022 10:54am

I was at it again with the fudge! I had no idea what to get the brother for his birthday... so I've made over half a kilo of fudge 😂🙈

New Home · 25-09-2022 11:27am

@woodchuck , aside from the fact that I'm drooling... it's my un-birthday today, could I also have half a kilo + of fudge, please?

Serious question - would you mind posting a picture of the pot you use to make this, please? And what kind of cooker do you have, gas, electric, induction, etc? Just wondering if the thickness of the bottom of the pot and the temperature regulation would make a huge difference.

woodchuck · 25-09-2022 12:16pm

Lol I honestly use a RUBBISH pot, that I probably should've thrown out years ago, but still use regularly 🙈 I think the pot is stainless steel. It sprung a leak a few years ago that I just patched up with cellotaped 😂 We just have an electric hob.

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, but I use a sugar thermometer, so that definitely helps to keep a close eye on the temperature. I'd recommend using a large enough pot though, as the mixture drastically increases in volume as it boils (similar to making jam). I also stir constantly with a wooden spoon as it's boiling up to the correct temperature and move around the sugar temperature to stir the mixture underneath it - I like to think that this helps prevent burning, but I still do often notice some small burn patches at the bottom of the pot at the end that I need to scrape off when washing. Luckily it never makes the fudge taste burnt though 🤞

I know I should get a new pot, but hey, it works 😂

P.S. A very merry un-birthday to you :)

New Home · 25-09-2022 12:22pm

That's hilarious!! Cellotape!!! 😂

But hey, if it works, don't knock it!

I'd say my thick bottomed pots would accumulate too much heat, then. Must get myself one like yours (minus the leak, possibly!).

Thanks, Woodie. 🙂👍

Shenshen · 26-09-2022 2:18pm

'Tis the season... some of our neighbour's apples dropped into our garden, so time for apple cake. Keeping it sugar-free, the bases are just slices of bread soaked in milk, egg and some xylitol. They're filled with the apples (stewed in rum and cinnamon) and topped with chopped pecans.

SnowyMuckish · 16-10-2022 9:05pm

Today’s cake for a digger obsessed fella!

Gloomtastic! · 17-10-2022 2:13pm

Mrs G! made a Lemon Meringue Pie yesterday for the first time. Would not be my favourite dessert so never asked her to make it up til now.

One of the best things she’s ever baked. A fantastic mix of sweet and bitter from the lemons and a caramelised crunch from the pastry base. 9/10

Here's the recipe she used.....

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ultimate-lemon-meringue-pie

phormium · 17-10-2022 2:47pm

Lemon meringue pie is my absolute favourite dessert, a nice tart filling with the sweetness of meringue and the crunch of pastry, what's not to like!

One tip though to avoid a layer of liquid between the meringue and filling which often forms and causes the meringue to slide off the slices is to put the meringue on the piping hot lemon filling. It's easier pipe it on as hard to spread on a hot liquid filling, can just pipe it out of a plastic bag with corner cut off and peak it up then with knife, don't need any fancy piping skills. The heat from the filling cooks the underside of the meringue and glues it to the filling, otherwise that part of the meringue never gets hot enough in the subsequent baking to stop it leaking a little liquid as the pie sits.

Planet X · 22-10-2022 12:58pm

First time to make/bake baguettes 😀, seem OK.

Shenshen · 24-10-2022 7:50am

Sugar-free baked cheesecake. It's called Russischer Zupfkuchen in German (Russian plucking-cake, your guess is as good as mine! 😂)

sdp · 24-10-2022 1:56pm

Meringue, fresh cream and caramel

Planet X · 05-11-2022 2:59pm

Lemon Drizzle.

Last week I made a complete c… up of this. Cake rose ok but I didn’t wait for it to cool down enough before I started pouring the lemon drizzle over. Consequently…….the middle sank completely. It was eaten the same day but the appearance was bad.

Today, let it cool almost completely. Used icing sugar as recipe used granular (Mary Berry).

Planet X · 12-11-2022 4:13pm

Bit of batch cooking whilst the ESB meter spins like a whirling dervish!

😀😀😀😀

Deja Boo · 12-11-2022 5:43pm

@Planet X, wow - your batch cooking looks incredible! (If ever you decided to post dough recipes, I would be the first to try them!)

@woodchuck, oh how I envy your brother - you never need to worry about gift lists again with your baking talent!

@Gloomtastic!, I made alot of lemon meringue pies in my late teens, never attempted it in a Springform pan. Holds up much better in a regular pie tin.

I could fill this post with praises for all the good looking food above! (drools)

Deja Boo · 12-11-2022 7:07pm

Has anyone ever tried making a pineapple upside down cake? I seem to have an over abundance of tin pineapple chunks and don't know what to do with it.