Bake-Off Bake-Along: Weeks 1-4

I've finally finished and gifted my massive crochet project and so have a little more time to blog again, so I can now get around to sharing about my Bake-Along bakes.
As in previous years, I've set myself the challenge of baking along with the Great British Bake-Off this year.
It's always been a fun thing to do, even though I do sometimes fall a week or two behind, and I definitely don't always try the more difficult of the recipes from the show. That just wouldn't be practical given that most of my baking is done with a 2 year old in tow.
So, here's my progress so far.
Week One Week 1 was cake week, and the technical challenge was Jaffa Cakes. These looked pretty straightforward and so I decided that they would be the first thing I would try.

I used Mary Berry's recipe, which you can find here, but adapted it to make them dairy and gluten free. They were really easy to make, and they tasted really lovely. The taste reminded me of posher brands of Jaffa Cakes, like M&S ones.

The first week also contained Drizzle Cakes, and so I made a couple of Orange Drizzle cakes, again using a Mary Berry recipe, this time from her Baking Bible. I've made these quite a few times before and they are always really popular.

Week 2

Week 2 was biscuit week, and again I decided to make the technical challenge, as it looked so delicious. I also didn't fancy my chances assembling a 30cm high gingerbread construction! 

I used Mary Berry's recipe for the Vienesse Whirls, which you can find along with the other recipes from the week 2 episode here, 

These biscuits were amazing, really melt in your mouth, and I definitely have to make another batch of them sooner rather than later!

Week 3

Week 3 was bread week. I don't make bread dough very often, and it's not something I have had an awful lot of success with. I think perhaps that I'm in too much of a rush to get things done and don't give myself enough time to knead properly. The only dough recipe I make with any sort of regularity is a pizza dough, using a trusty Nigella recipe from her How to be a Domestic Goddess book. I can make it entirely using the dough hook of my food mixer, which is a great time saver.

Still, I was determined not to let Bread Week pass me by without trying to make something. I didn't actually think that anyone in our house would eat anything from any of the three sections of the episode and so looked through some of my Bake-Off cookbooks from previous series' for inspiration.

I decided to try out Paul Hollywood's Chelsea Buns from the Series 3 book, and was delighted that they were a success!

Chelsea Buns always remind me of my Granny Tong, who would buy them for us from the baker's van when it visited her village. After dinner she would put out a plate of sweet treats that often included the Chelsea Buns and her amazing Griddle Scones, which were best served with her homemade Rhubarb Jam.

Buoyed up by the success of the Chelsea Buns, I decided to try my hand at Paul Hollywood's Doughnuts a few days later. 

Everything seemed to be going well, and the dough rose beautifully, but then things hit a snag when it was time to deep fry the doughnuts. They were so large, and the recommended oil temperature was so hot, that by the time the outside of the first couple was very dark brown, the inside was still raw. So I reduced the heat of the oil, halved the size of the doughnuts and tried again. It took quite a few frustratingly still raw in the middle doughnuts before the balance was found and they cooked right through without being too overdone on the outside.

The doughnuts tasted very nice, but for all the effort that went into making them, well, they still didn't taste as good as a Krispy Kreme, and I think I'll just stick to buying them whenever I fancy a doughnut treat in the future.

Week 4

And onto week 4, a new category for Bake-Off this year, Batter Week.

This would be an easy one to bake along to, given that nearly every Sunday morning we have pancakes for breakfast.

I haven't tried making the lacy pancakes that were the technical challenge on the show, as the boys were rather horrified at how little pancake that gave you to eat! 'Where would you put the syrup?' one of them asked, and. 'that wouldn't fill you up for long!' exclaimed another.

I do fancy trying them out just for fun one day, but will probably have a batch of 'proper' ones on the go at the same time.

Another challenge from this episode was Yorkshire Puddings. Not much can beat a Sunday roast beef with yorkshire puddings. Apart from a Sunday roast chicken with stuffing perhaps. It's a very close call in our house which of these two is the favourite.

Here are my Yorkies.

Mary and Paul asked for uniformity, which I'm sure I wouldn't have got marks for with these!

I don't use a recipe for them, just 3 eggs, a good dollop of milk (maybe around half to 3/4 of a pint or so) and enough plain flour to make a batter that isn't too thick. 

Another favourite of ours involving Yorkshire Puddings, and kind of fitting in with the challenge of making Yorkshire Puddings with a filling, is individual Toad in the Holes.

They don't make the most attractive food to photograph, but they do satisfy hungry boys tummies, and they make a packet of sausages stretch out further and a budget friendly family dinner!

This week the episode was about pastry. You can be pretty sure that I won't be posting about any filo pastry amuse bouches that I have made next week. Nor will I be making the Bakewell Tart given how many nut allergies are in the house!
 I'll just need to get my cookbooks out again and look for some inspiration for Pastry Week!

Bake Off Bake Along - Week 2, Biscuits

Last week's Bake Off was all about biscuits.
I said in my bake along post last week that I would probably try out some Biscotti, something I have never baked - or even eaten - before, and that's what I ended up baking.
I had a look through my fairly large cookbook collection and really struggled to find a Biscotti recipe though. Then I checked on the BBC Good Food website and found this one here. I mentioned before that I wouldn't want to add nuts to it and so adapted it to become a Cranberry and White Chocolate Biscotti instead.
I had always been put off trying out Biscotti as I knew you had to bake them twice, which made them sound more complicated than they really are. The dough is so straightforward to make, as is shaping it into a few sausage shapes to bake the first time. Then once it is cooled you slice the sausage shapes into the biscuit shapes and bake again at a much lower temperature. Not complicated at all!
Here are my Biscotti..

After taking this photo I added some stripes of drizzled white chocolate over the tops of them too.
They taste lovely, anything with cranberry and white chocolate can't taste bad if you ask me! However, they just aren't the sort of sweet treats that I enjoy to eat. I much prefer a cake or a piece of shortbread. These are a little on the hard side for me. I think they would be good with a cup of coffee, or perhaps even some tea, so that you could dunk them in, but since I don't enjoy either of these any more then that's not much good to me! Still, I'm sure the hungry teenager in the house won't let them go to waste.

This week's show was all about bread,  something I don't tend to bake very often, but that I always think I should try to. One of the main reasons I don't make bread very often is that I don't like to have too much flour flying around as Calum (12) has had an allergic reaction to airborne flour in the past and so it's not something I want to risk again! Any time I am making bread then I make sure that none of the three boys with wheat allergies come into the kitchen until I am finished and everything is cleaned up. One day I aim to try and perfect a wheat free bread, but I haven't done much research yet about how to perfect the holy grail of wheat free cooking!
In the first round of this week's show the bakers had to bake a quick bread. One without yeast. I have made plenty plain soda breads before, but the ones on the show had lovely looking extras added to them, like cheeses, bacon and herbs. This is a definite contender for me to try out this week, and I think I will try and make a wheat and dairy free version.
The technical challenge was a tricky one, a French baguette. I'd love to be able to make one at home, but the thought of it scares me! I know mine would probably end up more ciabatta like, like some on the show.
The final round contained some impressive looking bread sculptures. I won't mention what any of them were in case anyone hasn't had the chance to watch last week's show yet.
Based on my own time constraints, and the allergy restrictions in the house, I think I'll stick to my original plan of trying out a soda bread for next week.
Has anyone else been baking along? Or is anyone else planning to be braver than me for bread week? I know my sister in law makes very nice homemade bread so perhaps I could challenge her to try one of the fancier breads!

Bake Off Bake Along - Week One

Let's start with the bakes from last week's show - cake week - shall we?
I knew as soon as I watched last week's show that I wanted to make a Black Forest Gateau. A quick search on the BBC Good Food website found this recipe, which looked pretty straightforward and only needed a few of things that I didn't have in my usual baking supplies - cherry jam, tinned cherries and buttermilk. 
It did also ask for Kirsch but I wasn't going to buy a bottle of it only to use a little of it for this cake and then to have it lying around the back of the cupboard for months years! The recipe said that you could use juice from the cherries instead of the kirsch anyway.
The chocolate cakes looked delightful when they came out of their tins, and I think I might use this recipe sometimes as just a chocolate cake when I don't need it to be free from.

Since a Black Forest Gateau is a 70s classic I decided to go for the full 70s kitsch when decorating it!

The hardest thing about this cake was actually leaving it after decorating it on Saturday night until we had it for pudding at Sunday lunchtime!

But it was worth the wait...

I was glad that my mum and dad are around just now (stopping off to spend some time with us after returning from dropping my wee brother off in the US), so that there were more to share it with. Not because I didn't like it, but rather so that I wasn't tempted to eat too much of it myself, although it is quite rich and so a little goes a long way!

I highly recommend trying out this recipe and it would be perfect for a special occasion. 

Also joining in with the Bake Along this week was Calum (12) who made this gluten free and dairy free lemon Madeira Cake.

Didn't he do a great job?
I'm pretty sure that I should share the recipe for that one soon.
And sticking with Madeira Cakes, here is another lovely looking one by my brother's wife. She did tell me if it was lemon or orange but I just can't remember which one she said it was right now! Whichever one it was, it looks delicious but I don't imagine my brother has left any of it for me to sample.

Calum commented that he likes the way the icing is dribbled on rather than spread all over, and says he might try that the next time he makes Madeira Cake.
Now, quickly onto this week's episode, and without giving away any spoilers!
This week was biscuit week and it was hard to decide what I should try and make. First of all they had to make Biscotti. While we were watching the show, James (15), who was watching the whole show despite last week only claiming to enjoy the final round, said that since I have never made Biscotti I should try making them. I agreed with him, Not only have I never made Biscotti but I've never even tasted them, mainly because they almost always contain nuts. Although I am one of the few in the house without a nut allergy, I've never liked the taste of nuts.
So, I've set myself the challenge of making some Biscotti this week, roughly based on this recipe, but without the nuts.
In the second round of this week's show the bakers had to make some Arlette biscuits. These cinnamon biscuits looked lovely and again James suggested I make these. The recipe for them is on the Bake Off site here but I'm not sure if I am at a stage in my life right now where I can dedicate so much time on rolling out butter and dough, then chilling, then repeat! 
The final round saw the bakers having to make a box out of biscuit and then fill the edible box with a different type of biscuits. James said, you've guessed it, that I should try making something from this round too. Maybe it's not such a good idea having him watch it with us after all!
I was inspired to try something from this round though, and might enlist the help of the boys to try something out.
Who else is ready to try out some biscuits for next week?

Bake Off Bake-Along

8 o'clock last night (Wednesday) and the boys and I were all gathered round the TV.
It was the first episode in the new series of the only TV show that I actually watch, The Great British Bake-Off.
The middle three boys all love it as much as I do, and I'm not allowed to watch it without them - especially Calum (12). James (15) and my husband say that they aren't particularly interested in it, although James loves the showstopper round and asks us to call him through when it's time for that. 

Did you watch it?
I thought this series got off to a lovely start. Everyone seemed quite likeable and it was good to see not one but two Scots to root for.
Apparently there has been some sort of uproar on Twitter as the Kitchen Aid mixers have all been replaced by Kenwoods. As a Kenwood owner I don't see the big problem!
Quite a few of my US friends are fans of the show too, although I don't think the series is shown over there until the beginning of next year. I have been reliably informed that the older ones are on YouTube though.
One friend invited me to take part in a Bake Along they were having along to the last series of the show when it was aired in the US, and this got me thinking that it would be fun to host a Bake-Along to this series. Don't you think?
You don't need to have seen the episode to take part, as I don't think anyone outside the UK can watch the episodes on BBCiplayer.
Every Thursday I will post about what types of Bakes were in the show, along with any links to recipes, and then those who want to take part can send me a photo of what they have chosen to bake. The following Thursday I will share them on here in the next Bake Off post.
Photos can be either emailed to me using the link at the top right sidebar, shared on my Facebook page, or shared on Instagram using the hashtag #housefulofboysgreatbritishbakealong
It's purely for fun and I hope that lots of you will be inspired to join in!
This week's show was about Cakes.
In the first round the bakers had to bake a Madeira Cake, which is traditionally citrus flavoured and with candied fruit peel on the top. I have made this type of cake in the past but I haven't added the candied fruit. I also can't remember where I found the recipe but I'm going to have a look through my old books as I know it was in one of the older cook books! I might try making an allergy free version of this one as it shouldn't be too hard to adapt.
The technical challenge was Mary Berry's Frosted Walnut Cake. The recipe for this can be found here if anyone wants to try this one out for the Bake-Along. I don't plan to make this one as we have a strict no nuts rule in the house thanks to allergies!
The showstopper challenge was a Black Forest Gateau. Mmmm, I love a Black Forest Gateau but I haven't had one in such a long time! I'm almost certain that this is one that I'm going to try out for the Bake-Along and I found a recipe here on the BBC Good Food website.
Which of these do you think you would like to try out? Is anyone brave enough to try the technical challenge? I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with and sharing them all here next week!
As Mel and Sue say, 'on your marks, get set.....BAKE!'