Update - Sour Dough Bread Journey

First bake of 2015 and after doing some research on the www i have adjusted my recipe to make a wetter dough and adjusted the hydration of the recipe so i am now at 80%. This makes a much wetter dough and is very sticky making it harder to manage initial folds, but after diving in and ensure hands are dusted with flour it soon becomes very workable.

i am now playing with amount of folds and times between, this one was one fold 1 hour after initial proof, followed by another fold 30 minutes later

recipe definitely produces a lighter dough, no where near as heavy as my previous dough's, as you can see holes are slightly larger and this is something i want to improve on next

new recipe is listed below and i am still playing around with the basic recipe so keep an eye out for future recipe posts


Recipe

350g strong white flour
10g red malt flour
100g rye flour
300g sour dough starter
10g sea salt
360g warm water

ice for cooking

Method

1.  i simply weigh out all ingredients and place in to mixing bowl, using a dough hook i mix on slow for approx 10 minutes. (salt is added after 2-3 minutes of initial mixing)
2. remove hook and cover the mixing bowl with clingfilm, i then put a plastic carrier bag over the bowl, wet a large towel and place this over the bowl. place the bowl in a warm area and proof for approx 45 minutes. 
3. remove the dough from the bowl and push down dough, i then grab dough at both ends and gently shake up and down whilst pulling lightly on dough, this stretches the dough in length. 
4. place the dough on to a work surface, fold over each edge of the stretched dough to the middle of what you have and then i proceed to shape the dough to what i need to fit my brotform.
5. once i have placed the dough in to the mould i place in the fridge for proofing and leave overnight, in the morning i take the dough out of the fridge for 1-2 hours before baking
6. pre heat oven to 250c, i always place my bread stone in the cold oven and let it heat with the oven, at the same time i also place a metal tray on the shelf below the bread stone
7. once the oven is at temperature i tip the dough on to the bread stone, i place ice in to the pre-heated oven tray and then close the oven door
8. bake at 250c for approx 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200c for approx 25-30 minutes
9. test the base of the bread by tapping on it, if it sounds hollow then its cooked. ENJOY!!!

Review of #Dill Restaurant, Reykjavik, #Iceland

First night of the trip to #Reykjavik and i had booked this restaurant a few weeks before i traveled, the menu sounded very interesting and there were some great reviews on line of their offer

Well i have to say this was one of the best meals i have eaten this year (2014), i was lucky enough to sit at the bar counter, where the food is prepared right in front of you, if you go try and get one of the seats at the bar, really worth it

Service was really good with extra wine being poured a few times, attention to detail was very good but it should be for the price Kr 11.900 and Kr 11.900 for the wine. however i think it stacks up against the Michelin restaurants and i don't think it will be long before it is recognized globally.

I was very hungry nothing new there as it had been a long trip to get there so i opted for the whole 7 courses with a glass of wine per course, well it was not all wine some sherry, cider thrown in for good measure too. all dishes were perfect in size and the meal was very cleverly timed and not rushed in any way

I would rate this as a 9/10

The meal starts with 4 small taster courses to be enjoyed with a glass of champagne

Good evening 

01 Saltfish - dirt smoked lamb from Gylfi at Skutustooum and homemade mustard - tasted amazing although small this sets you up for what's coming

02 Fresh cheese - Christmas brew and ginger cake - amazing winter flavours was just like eating Christmas

03 Herring ice cream - pickled onions and rye bread - the absolute best dish of my trip, but then i am a huge herring fan and i have never had it like this before, this one dish should go down in this restaurants history books and always be on the menu

04 Barley pudding - smoked goose heart and burned butter - a real mix of flavours but surprisingly they all work together the goose heart was divine 

A novel was of serving bread that is cooked on site in large wood fired oven

Menu

01 Cod, apples, celeriac and jus from fried cod bones - raw cod had a lot of flavour and the jus / foam was amazing this dish was truly something different

02 Baked catfish, caramelised onions and Dill - again this was a great mix of flavours that all worked so well together who ever thought catfish could be so good

03 Red beets, raw, baked and juiced, cherry vinegar and crowberries - a little vegetarian thrown in, suppose you have to be good sometimes, despite this it did taste really good and was a clever mix of textures

A little crisp taster served mid-meal

04 Soft potatoes, dried auk, pickled onions, mustard seeds and Christmas tree - an extremely posh mashed potato, truly great with the dried auk on top and all those Christmas flavours

05 Salted and smoked pork fillet, crispy pork skin, Christmas spirit and rutabagas - water bath pork produced something amazing really tender falling apart with the simplest of pressure

06 Caramelised potatoes and red cabbage - more vegetarian but this one was almost as good as the herring ice cream but not quite, really clever to think out of the box and create this tempting dish

07 Mandarins, Christmas omnom and salted almonds - just has room for this and thank god it was so light

Sticks & Sushi Review - Covent Garden

Busy Wednesday night at Sticks & Sushi, been wanting to go here for ages now, followed on twitter and been loving the pictures they and customers post @sticksnsushi_UK

Service is friendly and welcoming, staff keep calling out some name as they walk you to your table, don't ask me what it was, despite hearing it many times still could not make it out. once you have sat and ordered you are then given a warm fresh towel to clean your hands, always liked this especially when next thing on is picking and eating with fingers, especially for those not mastered the chop sticks yet

non alcoholic cocktails are excellent especially the one with liquorish & berries, the calpico & yuzu also very good

started with cauliflower that had been fried and served with black sesame truffle sauce, really tasty something different and unusual, cauliflower really picks up the flavour well. Really turns a plain vegetable in to something great.

 This was followed by first plate of sushi

• Daikon Gunkan trout roe with quails egg yolk - really divine roe like popping candy with running yolk that really added to the flavour
• Seared yellow-tail with tsume soy - the searing really helps here, very delicate fish
• Beef Nigri - very tasty beef, perfectly aged and sliced, little nut on top really adds to the total flavour profile

 

First plate of our grilled sticks

• Beef with miso herb butter - perfectly marinated and tender, ate so easy, very good quality meat used
• Panko breaded duck with wasabi Caesar dressing - a stand out dish, really divine, so tender and tasty, you must try these
• Beef with crunchy chilli & garlic - packed with lots of flavour, meat here was not as tender as the beef miso but was OK, just not as tender a little bit tougher, but still a great dish

 

 Second plate of sushi cannot believe i was still going

• Hamachi - really fresh fish used, very tasty and dipped well in the soy and wasabi
• Shrimp - again very fresh and tasty, great quality ingredients
• Miso marinated black cod with tsume & sesame - the heat in this dish really helps all the flavours melt together

 

 Finally another plate of delicious sticks

• Lamb chop with miso herb butter - little bit weird to have bone in rib on sticks, you forget when first biting in to it, but soon remember, again perfect tasting, lamb was extremely tender
• Free range pork and basil - another great meat, its so nice to see somewhere using perfect quality meat in all its dishes
• Scallop wrapped in smoked bacon - absolutely divine, perfect cooked scallops, cooked almost to the point, really succulent - you must try this

Sour Dough Tomato & Parmesan Bread

this mornings effort - see recipe on my original sour dough bread

i added to this

100g sun blush tomatoes cut in small pieces
30g finely grated Parmesan

these were added same time as all other ingredients

lunch with smoked salmon, cream cheese and mixed leaves, simple but delicious

Sour Dough Journey Continues

so my second attempt at making sour dough and one week later, i have now dived in and bought a couple of brotforms to help with the sticking issues that i had last time.

unbelievably a light dusting of flour in the brotform and proof the dough for 12 hours and out my little loaf slid straight on to the bread baking stone - purchased at the same time as the brotforms

recipe is listed below and i am still playing around with the basic recipe so keep an eye out for future recipe posts

most of my recipes are approx weights as i rarely weigh ingredients whilst cooking, however i do always weigh out when making bread

see pictures below, the sandwich is filled with delicious pulled chicken, keep an eye out for this recipe soon!!

Recipe

460g strong white flour
300g sour dough starter
10g sea salt
230g warm water

ice for cooking

Method

1.  i simply weigh out all ingredients and place in to mixing bowl, using a dough hook i mix on slow for approx 10 minutes. 
2. remove hook and cover the mixing bowl with clingfilm, i then put a plastic carrier bag over the bowl, wet a large towel and place this over the bowl. place the bowl in a warm area and proof for approx 45 minutes. 
3. remove the dough from the bowl and push down dough, i then grab dough at both ends and gently shake up and down whilst pulling lightly on dough, this stretches the dough in length. 
4. place the dough on to a work surface, fold over each edge of the stretched dough to the middle of what you have and then i proceed to shape the dough to what i need to fit my brotform.
5. once i have placed the dough in to the mould i place in the fridge for proofing and leave overnight, in the morning i take the dough out of the fridge for 1-2 hours before baking
6. pre heat oven to 250c, i always place my bread stone in the cold oven and let it heat with the oven, at the same time i also place a metal tray on the shelf below the bread stone
7. once the oven is at temperature i tip the dough on to the bread stone, i place ice in to the pre-heated oven tray and then close the oven door
8. bake at 250c for approx 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200c for approx 25-30 minutes
9. test the base of the bread by tapping on it, if it sounds hollow then its cooked. ENJOY!!!

     

Winter Red Cabbage

all ingredients are approx

1 large red cabbage
2 red onions
2 large cooking apples
150g dried cherries
100g brown sugar
250ml red wine
20ml worcester sauce
100g chilli jam
2 teaspn paprika
salt and pepper to season

slice onions and red cabbage
peel, core and dice apples

combine all ingredients in to slow cooker and cook on high for 8-10 hours

serve with roasted pork is the best option, but this goes well with any roasted meat and especially duck breast

dried cherries can be omitted or replaced with similar i.e. dried cranberries

Review Hix Oyster House -Lyme Regis

Really nice location , great to sit out on the deck and good old British weather did not let us down

Service is ok, maybe a little too relaxed 2.5 hours for a two course meal, maybe too long for some but it was a nice day. Could do with being a little more attentive to empty water and asking if anyone needs anything, no mid meal check backs done

Excellent starters stand out dish mackerel salad with boiled egg and herb salad, very nice, but had to search for mackerel, a little more would made this a stand out 10/10 dish. I would say in general starters little bit pricey for quantity, however all excellent flavours, average 6/7 out 10

Mains were exceptional except for the dressed crab extremely poorly presented just chucked out of a packet and on to a plate, no care to make it look appealing or appetising, come on chef, you can do better especially for £14 

Other mains in comparison were far better it's hard to believe that same chef served up these different dishes. Rack lamb with cockles was excellent, as was the sea trout with girolle and samphire salad.

I would have scored higher had it not been for the crab main course you can get better on the Cobb for far less

Review Palomar - London

The reviews are spot on, go hunt this wonderful restaurant out, it's worth the visit and very reasonably priced

I ate far too many dishes as they tasted so good, sit at the bar table and be prepared to wait for a seat, but please wait, it's so worth it


A small free taster - delicious and great dip

Started with home baked bread (chola) with tomato coulis and tahini, really tasty mix, very cleverly done, nice and fresh and works well. Followed with some mackerel esbeche,really tasty some great flavour profiles mixed in to cut through the fatty mackerel. Raw oysters, simple but still fresh and tasty. The daily six were excellent with a stand out two being the Josper smoked aubergine and beetroot with goats cheese, sublime!!!

This was all topped off by the superior Jerusalem polenta, with asparagus mushrooms and truffle, this was so good, really rich and packed with flavour, it was worth the trip alone. YOU HAVE TO TRY IT !!! so good i forgot to take a picture, until i was half way through it.

Mains were sublime again packed with flavour and some great ideas, oxtail casserole really tasty and so unusually light, lots of textures and perfectly cooked. Deconstructed kebab again very cleverly pulled off, again so good i forgot a picture completely this time. Steak with lutka and fried egg, lots of flavour, very tender, worked very well. To top it all off the sweetbread dish was superb, my favourite of the night and something i will return to try again!!

Finished off with a superb chocolate dessert don't ask me what it was but god it tasted great, lots of amazing flavours and textures. By this time I had consumed far too much food, then to finish the equivalent of the wafer thin mint, we were given a taster of the house ice cream, very cleverly done and this did just about finish me off.

Night was made with some free alcohol shots given through night the staff entertainment is very funny and clever to get people involved, also a big win are the chefs cooking right in front of you and talking all through the meal, bad that you have to sit there and watch them plating all this divine food, hence eating far too much

Overall well done and I hope you continue to grow but as you do please please keep it real

Cheese on Toast

So not wanting to waste my first sour dough bread, it got turned in to one of my favourite evening snacks - cheese on toast

So easy, quick and tasty

Weights all approx as I have never weighed ingredients when cooking

2-3 slices of bread

8oz grated cheese, I like to mix mine really strong cheddar with good blue cheese

8oz Branson pickle

Half small jar anchovies

Good dash of Worcester sauce

Toast one side of each slice of bread, on the un-toasted side of bread spread out pickle, top with grated cheese, top with anchovies and then dash of Worcester sauce. Put back under grill and cook until cheese bubbles. 

Pickle can be replaced with piccalilli or any other chutney and trust me try the anchovies really do make it

Sour Dough Bread First Attempt

Well they say the fun with cooking is experimenting, well my first attempt was not a great success, you know that feeling when you just wish you had not bothered.

First time I had used my starter, however this was not the issue. I had read on line about proving by wrapping a tea towel in a colander so I tried this and that was the mistake, came to tipping out the bread on to oven tray and yes you guessed it. Just stuck to the tea towel and would not come out, with oven door wide open and heat escaping there I am stood pulling, pushing and smacking, eventually out it came, completely deflated but by now it's too late so I had to carry on and let it cook.

Result was not bad but not great 

You can see it sticking in the picture below

Things can only get better