[snowdrops]

They look good enough to eat 

[MrsPea]

New shoots do you have a recipe for that bread ??

[MrsPea]

Also made these this morning

[New shoot]

New shoots do you have a recipe for that bread ??

Yes and it is very simple.  Add different flours in if you want.  The original recipe is 50/50 rye and white in the sponge.  That makes a slightly heavier, but tasty loaf.

Mix 500g flour, 600ml water and 1 cup or a big ladle of sour dough starter in a bowl, cover and leave it overnight - this is called the sponge and is a fairly wet mix.
Next morning, add 25g salt and 600g flour into it and make a dough.  You may need more or less water so don't add it all at once.  It starts as a fairly sticky dough and gradually gets drier as you work it.
Knead for 10 minutes.
Shape and leave to prove all day.
Bake that evening - slash the top just before it goes in the oven set really high for 10 minutes.  Then turn the heat down to about 170 degrees C until baked through.  You  want the loaves browning, but not too fast, so the bread cooks through and the crust develops well.
The ones in the picture got about 35-40 minutes at the lower heat.  They sat in the baskets all day then got carefully tipped out onto baking sheets.

Your bakes look lovely.  I was drinking coffee as I typed this and I wanted those cookies 

[MrsPea]

Thank you New shoot, I'll try it one day, first one was a Bake well Tart my husbands favorite the cookies were from here Jenny's oat and cherry cookies the others were ginger biscuits 

[MrsPea]

I had a baking day yesterday, Fish Pie, Carrot cake and a bowl of stewed mixed fruit

[polo71]

Love to say I made them but Mrs Polo did this morning, Still waiting for the chocolate flapjack to set ! Most of it is for the grandkids.

[MrsPea]

They look good Polo71, i thought i'd done well yesterday i did a lot as well, Bake well tart for husband Soda loaf tonight's dinner Sweet and Sour Chicken then i did a plat full of Rock cakes.

[MrsPea]

Also made these had to re do picture.

[Blackpool rocket]

I must stop making sausage rolls, they're not good for our waistlines!
These are half wholemeal which was different and perhaps not entirely suitable for a sausage roll. Worth a try for that extra bit of crunch though.
The picture is very pale, not sure why that was, no flash. They were much darker in the flesh.

Hmmm.........where's the picture, I'll try again!

[DanielCoffey]

I made a Lemon Drizzle Cake (or Lemon Tea Bread) today since I had a couple of orphaned lemons. The recipe came from a long-defunct cookbook that is no longer in print so I am glad we got a copy when it was available.

The recipe uses a standard 2Lb loaf tin but can easily be halved to fit in a small 1Lb tin instead.

===

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Preheat oven to 200C conventional. Heavily butter and flour a 2Lb loaf tin.

Ingredients :

2 large eggs
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
small pinch salt
175g castor or light muscovado sugar
75ml creme fraiche or natural yogurt
160g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
55g melted butter

Frosting :

100g icing sugar, sifted
juice of 1 lemon

Method :

Whisk in a large bowl the eggs, lemon zest and juice, salt and sugar until well combined. Add the creme fraiche or natural yogurt. Working quickly add the flour and baking powder and combine. Add the melted butter and combine. Quickly transfer to prepared loaf tin.

Bake for 8 minutes at 200C then lower temperature to 170C and bake for a further 25-30 minutes. Test with skewer. Rest in the tin for 5 minutes while you prepare the drizzle frosting.

In a medium bowl combine the sifted icing sugar and juice of 1 lemon with a small whisk.

Turn the cake out onto a wire rack. If the cake is domed in the middle, turn it out right way up. If it is flat or dished down in the center, turn it out upside down. While the cake is still hot, spoon the frosting over the top and, if possible, sides of the cake. Since some will drip off, place either a baking tray or piece of cling film underneath. Allow to cool completely before serving. Keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days.

[MrsPea]

That looks good, i've never made it with yogurt or creme fresh, does it stay moist ??

[Blackpool rocket]

That does look good.
We have a surfeit of oranges, I have made 2 cakes in my entire life so no experience! could I substitute the lemon with orange?
The second cake was indeed an orange cake and used vegetable oil as the liquid, as well as eggs and juice. It came out well enough but not really orangy enough (3 oranges + juice)
Another problem is I don't have an electric "balloon whisk", just the standard hand held type attachment (electric) and even using it for over 10 mins the mix didn't really go very fluffy and I got bored!

Anyway I'm going off point now, I'll give it a try anyway with oranges.

[DanielCoffey]

Yes you could use oranges. Use the zest of between 2/3 and a whole orange if small but maybe reduce the amount of juice a little to avoid it getting too wet. Think about how much juice you got and compare it to what you might get form a lemon.

Also, when I said whisk, I really just meant combine well with a spoon or small hand balloon whisk. If you have an electric paddle whisk, just use it to mix the zest, juice, eggs, sugar and yogurt/creme fraiche until well combined but not till it is fluffy. Then you can switch to a spoon for combining the flour.

[Blackpool rocket]

Excellent, thanks. I'll give it a go. We've even got yogurt in the fridge!