Baking Made Easy. Lorraine Pascale
then repeat this step. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and put in the fridge for an hour to rest. You have now given the dough two ‘rolls and folds’.
Remove the dough from the fridge and give the dough one more ‘roll and fold’ by rolling it out to 45 x 15cm (17¾ x 6in) again and folding the ends into the middle as before. Then roll it out to a rectangle about 35 x 14cm (14 x 5½in). Place the dough on the baking tray, cover with oiled clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
Put the dough on a lightly floured work surface and trim any ragged edges with a sharp knife, then cut the dough in half lengthways. Cut each strip into triangles, each with a base of about 6cm (2½in) and two longer sides, 8.5 x 8.5cm (31/3 x 31/3in), going up to the point. You may have some trimmings left over. Place each triangle on the work surface with the longer point towards you and roll up the triangle away from you so that the tip folds over the top. Place them all on the baking tray and carefully curve into crescent shapes. Make sure the croissants are spaced well apart to allow them to expand during cooking. Cover with oiled clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F), Gas Mark 6.
Brush the croissants lightly with the lightly beaten egg and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Mascarpone & brown sugar
Scones
The unusual use of mascarpone and light brown sugar in this recipe makes these scones extra rich and a cut above the regular type. Makes 9
340g (12oz) self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
80g (3oz) butter, cold and cubed
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
80g (3oz) mascarpone
About 90ml (3fl oz) milk
1 egg, lightly beaten, for glazing
Preheat the oven to 210°C (415°F), Gas Mark 6–7. Dust a large baking tray with flour.
Put the flour, baking powder, salt, butter and sugar in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the mascarpone, then pulse again for 3 seconds. (If you don’t have a food processor, put all the ingredients in a medium bowl, pick up chunks of butter covered in flour and rub them between your thumbs and forefingers. Add the mascarpone and continue ‘rubbing in’. This shouldn’t take more than about 5 minutes.)
Pour the mixture into a large bowl and make a hole in the centre, then pour in enough milk to make a soft dough and stir with a knife. Use both hands to bring the mixture together, and squeeze, making sure any dry bits get picked up. It may seem like a crumbled mess but keep squeezing and the dough will come together. Knead lightly for a few seconds just to make the dough smooth and then roll out quickly on a lightly floured surface to about 2cm (¾in) thick.
Cut out rounds using a 6cm (2½in) round cutter (though any size will do) and place them on the prepared baking tray. It’s important not to twist the cutter whilst doing this or the scones won’t rise evenly when baked. Squish together any leftover dough, roll out and cut out more scones.
Brush the tops with beaten egg and bake in the oven for 10–12 minutes, or until the scones are nicely risen, firm and golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little on the tray. They are best served fresh and warm from the oven with lashings of clotted cream, strawberry jam and a pot of tea.
Brioche Rolls
The easiest way to make brioche is in an electric mixer with a dough hook. You can make it by hand, but you’ll need some time and a whole heap of patience. As an alternative to a brioche mould you can use a deep muffin tin. For a variation, soak some raisins in Madeira for an hour, dry them well, toss in flour (to stop them from sinking during baking) then add them to the dough once all the butter has been added. Makes 12
Vegetable oil or spray oil, for oiling
500g (1lb 2oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1½ sachets of fast-action dried yeast (10g/1/3oz)
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp soft light brown sugar
6 cold eggs, lightly beaten
310g (11oz) butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten, for glazing
Equipment
12 mini brioche moulds or a 12-hole deep muffin or cupcake tin
Oil the moulds or muffin or cupcake tin.
Put the flour in an electric mixer with the yeast, salt and sugar. Add the eggs, two at a time, mixing well between each addition on a slow speed. Once the eggs are all added, mix for 8 minutes. With the mixer still on a low speed add the butter in 5 additions, making sure that each bit of butter is well mixed in before the next is added. Every couple of minutes or so, scrape the sides of the bowl down with a spatula to make sure that all of the dough is fully mixed in. This process of adding the butter takes a good 10 minutes on the machine. The mixture will go from a stiff ball of stretchy hopelessness to something silky and smooth once all the butter is incorporated.
Once all the butter has been added keep mixing it until the dough no longer sticks to the side of the mixing bowl.
If you are doing this by hand the dough will look like a big runny sticky mess initially and keep sticking badly to the work surface. Just keep pulling the dough up and then pushing it down and scraping it off the work surface so you are continuously stretching and moving it. Eventually the dough will become less sticky, more elastic and begin to be a little easier to handle. It is tempting to throw in more flour so that it is less sticky, but doing this will change the brioche recipe altogether and make it more like regular bread. This may take up to 20–25 minutes or more. The dough will still be very soft at this stage.
Once the dough is ready, divide it into a third and two-thirds. Take the larger piece and divide it into 12 equal pieces. With well-floured hands take one of the pieces and make a ball with it, push it down into the mould or tin, then with a floured finger make a big hole in the middle. Repeat with the rest of this piece of dough. Then take the smaller third piece and break it into 12 portions. Roll each one into a bullet shape so it has a round ball at the top and a long pointed end. Push the pointed end into the hole all the way down so only the top third of the bullet is showing. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Alternatively, if by this stage you have had enough of your brioche, which, believe me, can happen, you can freeze it for up to a month by wrapping in clingfilm or putting it into a freezerproof bag and come back to it another day once it is defrosted and you are ready to conquer it again.
Oil the top of the bread and cover loosely with clingfilm, making sure it is airtight. Leave in a warm place until the dough has almost doubled in size, about 2–3 hours (this takes longer than other breads due to the high fat content).
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F), Gas Mark 6.
Once risen, remove the clingfilm and brush the dough well with the lightly beaten egg. Place in the top half of the oven, making sure there is room for the brioche to rise, and bake for about 35 minutes, or until the brioche is a rich golden brown and comes out of the moulds or tin easily. Take a peek after about 20 minutes of cooking. If you feel that the top is getting too dark, just cover the brioche with some baking paper to give the centre a chance to cook without any further browning to the surface. Remove the brioche from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.
Brioche has many uses. It makes an enticing breakfast bread, especially when spread with butter and served warm. Sliced, it can be served with foie gras and a rich chutney. For an extra special pud, make a large brioche and use it to make a bread and butter pudding.
Spiced fruit
Tea Loaf