I still have fresh yeast left from the trip to the pub as the bagel making adventure only used about a third of it so I need to more baking (I think there may be pizza for supper tomorrow to use up the last of it) and so today I'm making welsh cakes because I fancied something sweet (and have enough bread for now). I'm using a recipe that is adapted from one written no later than 1710...which is fun!
https://dejafood.uk/2017/04/03/welsh-cakes/
It seems to include a lot of stages and a lot of letting it sit and prove so i thought I'd better get started now - it's 11am - so I've abandoned FutureLearn and turned on Scala Radio and am having a go.
It turns out my nutmeg (which I think came from my mother) is in a mixed spice jar with a BB date of December 2000, who knows how old the nutmeg actually is but it smells good and I mostly managed not to grate my fingers!
The wet mix of milk, fresh yeast, an egg yolk and melted butter looks less than appetising and I might need to have an omelette for supper to use up the egg white as I'm not making meringue! It definitely needs the whole ten minutes kneading time - there's a moment when you feel the texture change and become more elastic. I have no currents so have substituted choped raisins. The dough now needs to prove for two hours so I'm taking a packed lunch for a walk in the sun.
2pm. That was lovely and I found an oak tree just coming into leaf to sit under and think of #JacobinDay. The dough has doubled in size and so needs patting to remove the air and rolling to 1.5 cm thick - I then realised I could not find my cookie cutters (I have no idea where they are, have I even seen them since I moved last summer?) so used a glass, not fluted but I'm sure they'll be fine! Now they prove for another 30-45 minutes.
This left them slightly puffy and I deemed ready to cook. The recipe is unclear. I heated my frying pan and started cooking too early - I'm impatient. It wasn't hot enough so too a long time - the balance seems to be tricky to get the temperature right so they brown nicely but cook all the way through too.
Mine took about seven minutes for the first side and five for the second. Once done I left most of them to cool but sprinkled the ate the three most untidy ones with caster sugar and ate with tea. They were good if slightly unevenly cooked but I blame the frying pan/impatience/annoying ceramic hob.
Worth trying again but not sure the more common recipe without yeast isn't just as good.
https://dejafood.uk/2017/04/03/welsh-cakes/
It seems to include a lot of stages and a lot of letting it sit and prove so i thought I'd better get started now - it's 11am - so I've abandoned FutureLearn and turned on Scala Radio and am having a go.
It turns out my nutmeg (which I think came from my mother) is in a mixed spice jar with a BB date of December 2000, who knows how old the nutmeg actually is but it smells good and I mostly managed not to grate my fingers!
The wet mix of milk, fresh yeast, an egg yolk and melted butter looks less than appetising and I might need to have an omelette for supper to use up the egg white as I'm not making meringue! It definitely needs the whole ten minutes kneading time - there's a moment when you feel the texture change and become more elastic. I have no currents so have substituted choped raisins. The dough now needs to prove for two hours so I'm taking a packed lunch for a walk in the sun.
2pm. That was lovely and I found an oak tree just coming into leaf to sit under and think of #JacobinDay. The dough has doubled in size and so needs patting to remove the air and rolling to 1.5 cm thick - I then realised I could not find my cookie cutters (I have no idea where they are, have I even seen them since I moved last summer?) so used a glass, not fluted but I'm sure they'll be fine! Now they prove for another 30-45 minutes.
This left them slightly puffy and I deemed ready to cook. The recipe is unclear. I heated my frying pan and started cooking too early - I'm impatient. It wasn't hot enough so too a long time - the balance seems to be tricky to get the temperature right so they brown nicely but cook all the way through too.Mine took about seven minutes for the first side and five for the second. Once done I left most of them to cool but sprinkled the ate the three most untidy ones with caster sugar and ate with tea. They were good if slightly unevenly cooked but I blame the frying pan/impatience/annoying ceramic hob.
Worth trying again but not sure the more common recipe without yeast isn't just as good.
I love the narrative version here, including the long proving/lunch break. Definitely worth the experiment!
ReplyDeleteI loved that the proving was so long I could go out walk my 10,000 steps and have lunch under a tree!
Delete