Sour 100% Rye Bread

Adapted from Dan Lepard: The Handmade Loaf (Mitchell Beazley Food)

Gelatinized Rye Mix	Dough
240 g Boiling water 60 g #1150 Rye flour ©angiesrecipes	200 g Rye leaven at 21C/70F 50 g Water at 19C/35F 200 g #1150 Rye flour ©angiesrecipes 100 g #997 Light rye flour ©angiesrecipes 1 tsp Sea salt

1. Cool the boiling water until it reaches 90C/194F. Quickly whisk in the rye flour trying to avoid too many lumps forming. Cover the bowl and leave for 1 hour (or up to 24 hours). This gelatinized mixture will give the crumb of the loaf some elasticity.
   
   
2. Whisk the rye leaven into the cold water, then whisk in the gelatinized rye mix (saving 1 tablespoon to brush over the loaf). Stir this with the dry ingredients until you have a soft sticky paste. Tip this dough out on to a lightly oiled work surface and knead gently into a ball. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
   
3. Shape the dough into a baton or a ball. Place the loaf seam-side-up on a floured cloth or baking paper, pulling the cloth up around the dough to hold its shape or proof it on a basket. Leave to rise at room temperature for 5 hours or until the loaf has almost doubled in size.
   
4. Preheat the oven to 210C/410F. Carefully upturn the loaf on to a tray and brush with the gelatinized rye mix. Spray the loaf lightly with water, and bake for 50 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack. When cold, wrap tightly in baking parchment, and leave for a day before slicing. Spread the bread slices with desired toppings.

Sour 100% Rye Bread

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

• 160 g Instant oatmeal
  
• 3 Ripe bananas
  
• 30 g Raisins
  
• 60 g Walnuts
  
• 100 g Dried cranberries
  
• 50 g Dried coconut shreds
  
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 tsp Salt
  

1. Mash the bananas with a tablespoon, adding vanilla extract and salt. Mix well. Chop the walnuts and dried cranberries.
   
2. Mix all the other ingredients with the banana mixture. Scoop out on a baking tray lined with a baking paper. Bake in a preheated 165C/330F oven for about 30 minutes until the cookies lightly golden in colour.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies　香蕉燕麦饼

Catherine@Living The Gourmet	Elin@Elinluv's Tidbits Corner

Ding dong ding dong

Okay so the plan was to get you a photo of me and Giles cutting the wedding cake. But the thing is that someone texted the photo to me and I can't work out how to get it off my phone (even though I've got all the appropriate cables) and onto this blog.

So no photos until the photographer - an upsettingly handsome young man called Roo - has deleted all the ones of me looking huge-toothed and red-faced and sent both useable photos to me. This is a shame as I bored you all to death so comprehensively with the wedding that I felt the very least I could do was to offer some kind of exclusive footage.

Anyway it all went very well. I told Giles that he was strictly not to use the word c*** or f*** in his speech, which meant he only used both words once.

Now, after a very, very tense half an hour looking for my passport, I'm going to pack for my honeymoon Greece, where the weather appears to be 16C and drizzling - but you can't have it all.

But before that, we are going for lunch at L'Artista, the pizza place under the Golders Green tube station railway bridge where Giles and I first met.

The carbs are back. Hooray!

Angel Food Cake With Lemon Icing

Angel food cakeis a type of foam cake whereas the devil's food cake is a type of butter cake.Angel food cake requires that the egg whites be whipped until they are stiff, and gently folded into the other ingredients. After baking, the cake pan is inverted while cooling to prevent the cake from falling in on itself. Angel food cake is sometimes frosted but more often has some sort of sauce, such as a sweet fruit sauce, drizzled over it.

Angel Food Cake	Lemon Icing
9 large Egg whites, at room temperature 1/4 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Lemon juice 1 tsp Lemon extract 1 tsp Vanilla extract 330 g Sugar (I use only 200 grams) 115 g Cake flour, sifted	1 cup Confectioners sugar, sifted 2-3 tbsp Fresh lemon juice 1 tbsp Finely grated lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 160C/325F. Beat egg whites until frothy, add salt, lemon juice and extracts. Add sugar a little at a time; continue beating until whites are glossy and stiff.
   
2. Using the rubber spatula, gradually fold in the flour, 1/3 at a time, until flour is incorporated. Be sure that you use a true folding motion, gently turning the spatula from the bottom of the bowl to the top, folding in air with each stroke as opposed to beating or stirring.
   
3. Pour batter into an ungreased, 26cm tube pan. Bake one hour or until top is golden brown. As soon as the cake is done, turn the tin upside down and suspendd its funnel over the neck of a bottle. Let cook, about 1 hour.
   
4. While cake is cooling prepare the icing. In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest. Let stand ten minutes before glazing the cake as it thickens a little.

Angel Food Cake With Lemon Icing

Pan-Fried Stuffed Tofu With Oyster Sauce

	Sauce
125 g Ground meat 2 Dried mushrooms (soaked in water and chopped finely) 1 stalk Sring onion, chopped 2 slice Ginger, minced 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp White pepper powder 1 tsp Light soya sauce 1 tsp Sesame oil 300 g Tofu 50 g Cornstarch 1 stalk Chopped spring onion	1. 5 tbsp Oyster sauce 1. 5 tbsp Light soya sauce 90 ml Water 1/2 tsp Chicken bouillon 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 tbsp Cornstarch 1/2 tbsp Sugar

1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl and stir until the mixture is well-blended. Stir together all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.
   
2. Cut the tofu into 10 rectangles, each about 4x7cm in size. Using a spoon to hollow out the center of each tofu rectangle to make a little box. Pat the tofu 'boxes' dry and dust them lightly with cornstarch. Fill each with about 1 tablespoon of the stuffing, mounding it slightly. Pat each piece of stuffed tofu with additional cornstarch.
   
3. Pour enough oil into a skillet to fill 3 inches. Heat oil over medium-high heat to 150C/300F. Deep-fry the stuffed tofu, a few pieces at a time, until the tofu is golden brown and the filling is cooked through, about 5-6 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
   
4. Heat a skillet over high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved oil and swirl to coat the sides. Add green onions and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the sauce and bring to a simmer.
   
5. Slip the fried tofu into the sauce and stir gently to coat. Transfer the tofu onto a serving platter, and serve hot.

Pan-Fried Stuffed Tofu With Oyster Sauce

Still no food

Okay, so the volcano didn't eat my wedding after all. Airspace opened and there's been another flurry of emails and phone calls to confirm that, yes, they're all going to be there.

But I'm still not doing any cooking. So instead here are some pictures of Hatfield House, where I went this morning.

Seaweed Swiss Roll

70 ml Water 80 g Corn oil 100 g Sugar 80 g Cake flour 25 g Cornstarch 2 g Baking powder 2-3 g Chicken or vegetable bouillon

1 g White pepper powder 125 g Egg yolks 200 g Egg whites A few drops of white vinegar 2 g Salt 8 g Seaweed crumbs

1. Mix water, 20 grams of sugar and corn oil in a bowl. Whisk until the mixture is emulsified. Sift cake flour, corn flour, baking powder, chicken powder, and white pepper powder into the liquid mixture. Add in egg yolks and mix until well-combined.
   
2. Whip the egg whites with a few drops of vinegar and salt until foamy, add 1/3 of 80 grams of sugar and beat until soft peaks form when the beater is raised. Beat in another 1/3 of sugar and continue beating vigorously for another 1 minute. Beat in the remaining sugar and beat until they hold firm peaks.
   
   
3. Add about 1/3 of the whites to the egg yolk mixture and mix. Add in seaweed crumbs and combine. Fold the remaining whites and fold in with a spatula until combined.
   
4. Spread the mixture into one 30x40 cm or two 25x20 cm cake roll pans lined with baking paper. Bake in a preheated 190C/375F oven for about 15-18 minutes.
   
5. Remove, cool briefly, and invert the cake onto a new parchment paper. Carefully peel off the the paper liner and then invert again the baked side-up to cool on a wire rack. Trim the edges of cake. Spread the surface with whipped butter or mayonnaise and roll it up. Chill for about 1 hour and slice.

Seaweed Swiss Roll

How Eyjafjallajökull ate my wedding

So, there probably won't be much in the way of FOOD here this week.

a) my wedding is this Saturday, for those of you who for some insane reason aren't crossing off the days on your wall calendar, and so my diet has shrunk to emergency rations only and

b) the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, has stranded over 10% of the wedding guests abroad, meaning that I have to spend the majority of this week pacing up and down going "Fuck!" and not much time in the kitchen

Anyway, I didn't want anyone to think I had given up. I'm just on bridal high alert.

Cucumber Relish

This cool, crisp delish is really easy to make and it tastes so delightful and delicious! A perfect accompaniment to the coming summer grilling season.

• 300-350 g Cucumber, sliced
  
  
• 50 g Carrot
  
  
• 1 tsp Salt
  
  
• 1 tbsp Honey
  
  
• 1 tsp Brown sugar (preferable rock sugar)
  
  
• 3 tbsp White vinegar (preferable white rice vinegar)
  
  
• 2-3 Pickled pepperoncini
  
  
• 2-3 clove Garlic, sliced

1. Thinly peel the carrot and cut the pickled chilli into small pieces. Rinse and slice cucumber. Place cucumber slices in a bowl together with peeled carrot and sprinkle salt over. Let stand for 2 hours.
   
   
2. Drain, rinse well with cold water and drain again. Transfer cucumber and peeled carrots to a glass jar. Combine together honey, brown sugar, white vinegar, sliced garlic and pickled pepperoni in a bowl. Pour over the cucumber. Seal the jar and shake to mix. Marinate it in a fridge for 1 day. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired and serve.

Cucumber Relish 酸甜黄瓜片

Strawberry Tea Loaf Topped With Carrot Chiffon

Strawberry Tea Loaf	Carrot Chiffon
65 g Milk 40 g Sweetened condensed milk angiesrecipes 85 g Tangzhong Starter - Water Roux Starter via Starch Gelatinization 40 g Egg, beaten 22 g Butter, unsalted 3 g Salt 285 g German #550 flour angiesrecipes 4 g Strawberry teabags (2 bags) 4 g Instant active dry yeast	32 g Corn oil 40 g Bio-Carrot juice angiesrecipes 1 package / 8 g Vanilla sugar angiesrecipes 60 g German #405 flour 2 pcs Egg yolks 2 Egg whites Pinch of salt 1/4 tsp Lemon juice 40 g Icing sugar

1. To make the dough in a bread maker, put all of the ingredients into the bread machine in the order listed, and set the machine to create dough. When the machine finishes, roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into four even portions. Round up, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Line two loaf pans with parchment paper.
   
2. Sealing side down roll each dough out to match the length of your baking pan. Turn the dough over and roll it up. Seal the ends closely. Place them seam-side down into the pans, each pan with two loaves. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.
   
3. While the bread ferments, we start to make the cake by beating the oil, carrot juice and vanilla sugar until creamy and emulsified. Sift in the flour and stir until just combined. Add in egg yolks and mix completely.
   
4. Whip the egg whites, salt and lemon juice until soft peaks form. Beat in the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the rest of the whites. Pour the cake batter over the bread. Sprinkle some coconut flakes over and bake in a preheated 165C/330F oven for about 45-60 minutes. After baking, immediately tear off the baking paper to avoid the cake shrinking too much.

Thank you, Aux Delices des Gourmets
!
Strawberry Tea Loaf Topped With Carrot Chiffon