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Pete Fred

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Everything posted by Pete Fred

  1. Pete Fred
    Halva babka, based on the one at Breads Bakery in New York. Their filling, but I swapped in a brioche feuilletée for the bread. Not much of a looker at first glance (that's a tahini glaze on top)... ...but more appealing once opened up... A bit disappointing, sadly. The flavour was quite muted. I much prefer their chocolate babka.
  2. Pete Fred
    I did not. I'll keep my ear to the ground for the digital edition. Thanks. 👍 I do like Mr Harvey; his focus and attention to detail are right up my street. He talked abour cannelés on npr a few years ago, if anyone's interested.
  3. Pete Fred
    Cannelé. Batter made with egg yolks, moulds coated with beeswax. The difference between the dark and light ones is just oven position. Vive la France!
  4. Pete Fred
    In Sweet, Ottolenghi has Vineyard Cake. It uses a bottle of Muscat (de Beaumes de Venise in this instance) and is based on a recipe from Gourmet magazine. If you search, you'll find several bloggers who've made it. Epicurious has a Beaumes-de-Venise Cake which seems to be the aforementioned original. Do have a look at the comments where it receives a largely positive response. I haven't made it myself so can't add anything beyond that.
  5. Pete Fred
    The one above is the original recipe that Ducasse liked. Hopkinson did tweak it later on, though. I've made both but can't remember if the revision was a game changer or not. Surely a good excuse to make two?!?
  6. Pete Fred
    Here's a good, old fashioned English steamed pudding made with beef suet. It's the ginger pudding that Simon Hopkinson served at Bibendum in the 90s. Alain Ducasse thought it "one of the best things he'd ever eaten". The pressure of that evening's service caused Mr Hopkinson to suffer what he described as a "mini-breakdown" and shortly afterwards he left the world of professional kitchens, never to return. So it's a pudding with quite a tale. I had mine with thick cream, but props to the fearless amongst us who went all-in and had custard too. Mentalists!
  7. Pete Fred
    Another custard tart. This time it's the salted caramel one that Phil Howard served a few years back at his two Michelin star joint in Mayfair. (The UK guide certainly seemed enamoured with uncomplicated desserts back then!) I like to take my caramel quite far - in this instance over 190°C (375°F). And I was quite bold with the salt. Oh, and I brûléed the top for giggles coz, well, what's the point of having a torch if you're not gonna use it? 😉 It didn't add much to the party, other than a pleasingly delicate snap when digging in. And I always look forward to freezing the leftovers, which magically transform into a kind of biscuity, ice cream fudge. Yum.
  8. Pete Fred
    I have an aunt who lives in Mississauga. Sadly, the last time I visited was in the 80s, with no future plans to return; otherwise I'd be requisitioning her kitchen and dropping by with a slice or three.
  9. Pete Fred
    My first bake of the year was a classic English-style egg custard tart. It's from a recipe by Marcus Wareing who served it in his two Michelin star restaurant in London. That makes it sound a little more grand than it actually is: after all, it's just a custard tart. Having said that, it did win the first series of Great British Menu and he subsequently made it for The Queen. Unfortunately, royal protocol dictates that we'll never know whether she liked it or not. However, I can tell you that mine was very nice. 😜
  10. Pete Fred
    Stella Parks' Pumpkin Skillet 'Thing'. Underwhelming. It took much longer than indicated (internal temp 96°C) which accounts for the overcooked edges. The streusel topping was dry and powdery. I used Ovaltine for the malted milk powder, so it's darker than her version. Several commenters had similar problems so I'm not sure what to make of it. Even if the texture would've been better, the flavour was decidedly 'meh'. It just seemed an expensive way to waste some quality white chocolate. I enjoy reading Ms Parks' articles and have picked up some valuable tips but this isn't the first time I've been disappointed with the results, whether technical or taste. So no hard feelings - no doubt operator error is partly to blame - but her bakes are seemingly not for me.
  11. Pete Fred
    Another take on Flan Parisien. I've only ever made ones containing eggs (whole or just yolks) so I was intrigued to see it done without them. Not quite as smooth and creamy as my regular recipe but still a superior tart. Should Arm-egg-eddon wipe out the world's chickens, it's comforting to know there will still be flan.
  12. Pete Fred
    Coffee Cake from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery book. It's an excellent cake, flavoured with vanilla, cocoa and cinnamon. The almond streusel topping has a nice texture. The crumb is a little less airy than I would like, but that's down to using a hand mixer rather than the brute force of a stand mixer for the creaming.
  13. Pete Fred
    Beetroot, Ginger and Soured Cream Cake from Ottolenghi 'Sweet'. Here it is before and after icing... It contains beetroot, walnuts and stem ginger (preserved ginger). The topping is cream cheese and double (heavy) cream. Ottolenghi uses a vitamin C tablet to preserve and 'set' the colour of the beetroot, resulting in quite a striking visual when sliced... This was a very good cake.
  14. Pete Fred
    Pistachio and Rose Water Semolina Cake from Ottolenghi 'Sweet'. A bit of a curious one, this. I had high expectations that, sadly, didn't quite deliver. I think I may have contributed to my own disappointment by roasting the almonds (with skins, my choice) and pistachios that went into the cake batter. They were then blitzed in the food processor but not as finely as commercial ground nuts. This meant their flavour and texture was a little more "wholemeal" in the finished cake. Even the generous amount of soaking syrup (lemon, rose water, sugar) didn't really brighten things up much. I was hoping the accompanying cream (Greek yoghurt, crème fraîche, rose water) would come to the rescue but that turned out to be surprisingly anodyne. Not sure I'll be revisiting this one any time soon.
  15. Pete Fred
    Another day, another bit of brown; this time in the form of the Courgette (Zucchini) & Pistachio (Pistachio) Cake from Honey & Co. I didn't have any olive oil so subbed in regular vegetable oil (rapeseed). Next time I'll chuck in another handful of (roasted) nuts. I enjoyed this. It was a fine cake.
  16. Pete Fred
    After the unrestrained hedonism of pink icing and glacé cherries, it's back to boring brown cakes for me. This is parkin, a traditional cake from the north of England. It's kind of a dense gingerbread made with black treacle (molasses) and oats. This is the Yorkshire type of parkin and bakes quite dry. But it's so hygroscopic from the ridiculous amount of sugar that, after a few weeks in a cupboard, it softens nicely and turns pleasingly sticky. It's a popular treat at this time of year with Halloween and Bonfire Night just around the corner.
  17. Pete Fred
    Today's nostalgic treat was a Bakewell Tart. And, obviously, if you're gonna go full retro with the feathering, might as well stick a cherry on top!
  18. Pete Fred
    Yup. I'm not particularly well versed in filo but have had decent results in the past. I'm still blaming the method (well that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Should I revisit filo strudel, @Kim Shook has given me a few pointers that would likely solve my issues. But at the moment I think I'm just gonna glance wistfully in the rear view mirror and chalk it up to experience. To stave off the blues after a baking fail, I reached for my current go-to, Ottolenghi 'Sweet', and alighted on the Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake. I must have angered the baking Gods of late because this is the first one from the book that I've been less than happy with. It was perfectly fine but the batter didn't really come together as described in the recipe, and the finished cake looks a little different to his, texture-wise. So I made another two (!) which are currently cooling. Sadly, I doubt I'll be troubling the board with tales of redemption. Nothing much seemed to change. The losing streak continues.
  19. Pete Fred
    It was ok. My woes lie entirely with the filo. Dry and papery on top, tough underneath. If I'd done a better job with the cooking I'm still not sure it would be to my taste. I'm looking for something lighter. The method involved layering multiple sheets of filo and rolling into a log. I think I might prefer it made with a single, very thin sheet of strudel dough rolled around the filling. This appears to be the traditional way as opposed to the more modern filo 'hack'. Although filo and strudel dough are similar-ish, the number of 'purists' saying filo is inferior has made me curious.
  20. Pete Fred
    Thought I'd have a go at making apple strudel. It was a bit of a letdown, the filo disappointingly dry and heavy. That may be due to operator error - it could just be overcooked - but I'm gonna point the finger of blame at the shop-bought pastry being of not great quality (there were similar complaints on the supermarket website). Subsequent research suggests that filo will always be a little dry and papery compared to proper homemade strudel dough, but whether I can be bothered having a go at making my own is a different matter entirely. I might just call it quits.
  21. Pete Fred
    I feel the need to 'fess up to being inordinately annoyed that my almond cake sunk somewhat in the middle. I figured it might be down to using the wrong cake tin (20 cm/8 inch in diameter and 7.5 cm/3 inch deep). So obviously I had to make it again. 🙄 <cue bakers everywhere groaning sympathetically in acknowledgement> This time I used a 4.5 cm/2 inch high tart ring and it worked out much better. The edge rose to the top of the ring and set, with the middle continuing to rise a little further before settling back level. Rejoice!! Lesson learned. 🤔
  22. Pete Fred
    Continuing to plough my way through Ottolenghi 'Sweet'. This is the Almond Butter Cake with Cardamon. Simple but delightful... Conscious of the fact that I've been on a run of quite plain cakes recently, I made his accompaniment of baked plums. Here it is plated... The plums are baked with wine and spice. Sadly, they were a bit 'meh'. The curse of commodity plums strikes again; will I ever learn?!
  23. Pete Fred
    I guess there's no time like the present when it comes to cake, so Gateau Breton made with buckwheat flour... The crumb was a little tighter compared to regular flour, and the nuttiness was ok. Overall I preferred yesterday's version; it had a better texture and the butter flavour was cleaner.
  24. Pete Fred
    Gateau Breton (Brittany Butter Cake)... Not much of a looker, admittedly. If you've never heard of it, the texture is somewhere between shortbread and cake. Given it's made with so few ingredients, it all comes down to the quality of the butter used; in this instance, raw-cream salted butter from Isigny, so it tasted great. I keep meaning to make this with the traditional buckwheat flour; it'd be interesting to see what the nuttiness brings to the party.
  25. Pete Fred
    Here's the Coconut, Almond and Raspberry Cake from Ottolenghi "Sweet". He uses blueberries in the book, but they're so spectacularly bland here in the UK I've learned to steer clear. Why on earth he would choose to use them is beyond me. I liked it. Very good texture. The coconut was quite subtle, but present. I contemplated adding some crushed freeze-dried raspberries for a more pronounced hit but decided to go as-is for the first attempt. Definitely next time, though. Or maybe add a hint rose for an Hermé Ispahan vibe.
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