SEVEN SWANS A SWIMMING RECIPE: CHOUX PASTRY SWANS FILLED WITH DUCK BREAST, DUCK LEG CONFIT, POMMES SARLADAISE & CELERIAC MASH. PART 1 CHOUX PASTRY SWANS

Hey all. We're back having taken a brief blogging holiday since Christmas, catching our breath from so much cooking and running around serving dinner.

One of the show stoppers from our holiday supper club season, which we cooked at several events was the savoury choux pastry swan filled with pommes sarladaise, confit of duck leg, slices of seared duck breast, celeriac mash and brussel sprouts accompanied with a mustard creme fraiche sauce.

A rather indulgent meal, made up of lots of components that kepts us on our toes, especially when serving it as course 7 of our epic 12 course Christmas dinner for 21 people.

As we ate the last of our confit duck legs on Thursday (preserved under fat it can lasts for months) we decided it would be a good idea to post this recipe and bit of step by step on how to create this show stopper. This will be posted in two parts, part 1 being making the choux pastry, creating and assembling the swans. This is the same sort of pastry you would use if making profiteroles for example. We made no changes to it but kept it savoury for our dish. It requires some practice and experimentation for piping and size etc, but it looks amazing once presented as a dish. 

Being the baker and pastry maker of the house I took on the choux pastry and swan making. Actually its one of the easiest pastries to prepare and there is not much to it. Piping them to look like swans wasn't too hard either, I watched a video of Michel Roux making the choux pastry then another video demonstrating how to pipe the swan heads and bodies. 

I had to make this a few times to figure out how many swans I'd get for the amount of mixture as Michel Roux Jnrs recipe wasn't specifically for swans. 

The number of swans you will get varies depending on size. I tripled this in order to make 25 swans, but it did it in single batches which is a good idea as you'll want to do a couple of practice swans first and figure out size. They will almost double in size once cooked. Traditionally these are made as a dessert and filled with cream but worked just as well for our savoury main dish.

Ingredients for choux pastry ( taken from Michel Roux recipe ) 

• 125ml milk
• 100g, butter, diced
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1tsp sugar
• 150g plain flour
• 4 medium eggs

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200c and line a baking tray or 2 with non stick greaseproof paper.

Combine, milk, butter, salt and sugar and slowly bring to boil, just as its boiling take it off the heat. 

Sieve the flour and slowly add this to the mixture, stirring vigourously with wooden spoon. It will all come together in to a nice smooth dough and pretty much clean the bowl of liquid. 

Now add the eggs one at a time, stirring each until combined. You'll notice at first as you mix in the egg the mixture seems to fall apart and starts to resemble a glutenous mess but persist with stirring for 10-15 seconds and it will come back together, repeat until all the eggs have been incorporated. Give it a final good stir and it should be smooth, glossy and able to be piped. 

I used 2 piping bags with different sized nozzles for the body and the necks. Its hard to say but around 2/3 of the mixture should be for the bodies and the rest for the neck. We wanted quite big bodies as we were filling them with lots of delicious duck. 

The best way to learn the piping method is to watch a video I found this one helpful. Its for a dessert but the piping techniques for the swan is exactly the same.

For the neck use round nozzle 2A. You will start where the head will be and pipe an S shape on the baking paper, stopping and pulling swiftly up as your finish to get a clean end. You then go back to the head and pipe a little extra and pull swiftly down to create a beak, this is clear in the video I suggested above. 

For the bodies use the large round nozzle 1A. You'll start by keeping the nozzle in one spot, pipe out a generous size, ours were around 6 cm wide and then pull the piping bag downwards to create a tear drop.  When you finish the bodies simply stop apply pressure to the bag and lift it up quickly. 

Make sure you keep a few cm space between each on the baking tray as they'll nearly double in size.

Bake the swans for around 20 minutes. Its going to vary depending on size. For ours, we baked the bodies for 20 - 25 minutes and the necks for 20 minutes as we were making large swans. It will require a little experimentation on your part. 

If you under cook them the bodies will deflate a little when you take them out of the oven. Its trial and error, we made a lot to figure out the best cooking times, consistency and size of our finished product. Try one or two different sizes first and bake a few to figure out what you prefer. 

You can store these as we did in a plastic container for a few hours and re heat them later when ready to serve. Re heating firms up the bodies a bit more which then makes it easier to cut and assemble them.

To prepare the bodies for the filling, slice across the top of the body to create a flat top. The piece you've cut should be about 1cm thick, it can then be chopped in half length ways and used as wings  (we chose not too, but for a dessert this is usual) 

Pipe a dollop of mash, be that potato or as in our case celeriac on to the top of the body where you will affix the swans neck and voilà you have your swan ready to add the pomme sarladase, confit and duck. 

Come back soon for Part 2 of this recipe by Nick where he explains the remaining components of the dish so you end up with something like this.....

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BACON, CHIVE, COURGETTE & CHEESE MUFFIN RECIPE - BRUNCH CLUB AMUSE BOUCHE

So we've recently kicked back into the brunch club madness. Thanks to all our special lovers who made it last week. Our most recent brunch club menu saw us re-visit some of our all time favourite dishes including crispy corn fritters, huevos rancheros, dare devilled lambs liver and bacon & banana french toast. As we had some old favourites on the mains list we wanted to experiment with some new amuse bouche to keep some of our regular guests entertained. And they were not disappointed. Balsamic and fig tartlets with grilled cheese and pistachios, Deep fried coconut ice cream with caramalised pineapple and ginger chocolate mouse and bacon, chive, courgette and cheese muffins were all hits.


The muffins in particular drew alot of positive comments. These wickedly savoury beasts are simply stunning warm out of the oven with a smattering of butter or sour cream or even just lovely on their own little selves. I was over in Barcelona for the weekend visiting Bexy and when we tried out a batch of these the batch was quickly eaten and the wide eyed flatmates demanded we bake more. Immediately. They are that good!


BACON, CHIVE, COURGETTE & CHEESE MUFFIN RECIPE

Makes 20-24 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 cup grated courgette

2 cup grated chedder cheese

3 slices of cooked chopped bacon

pinch of salt punch of pepper

1 tbsp chives

1tsp cayenne pepper

230g butter

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

Method

Preheat oven to 180c

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cheese, bacon, courgette, chives, salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, sour cream, and milk. Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients and mix well. Spoon batter into a greased muffin pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes until muffins are golden. We always like to ever so slightly under cook so lean towards the 15 minutes end of the scale. I like to keep my baking slightly moist. Dry is never good! Even so do the knife test to make sure its actually cooked inside, if it comes out pretty much dry then you have a perfect muffin. 

Of course you can opt to leave out the bacon if you are vegetarian. We made these with and without and they're both amazing. Such a simple recipe you could add tomato, spinach, pretty much any vegetable or kind of cheese. Make them exactly according to your favourite tastes.

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HONEY CUPCAKES WITH FIG JAM RECIPE

So I have been feeling creative of late...  its normally unlike me to not go off a recipe but I'm throwing caution to the wind as I feel I've mastered the art of a tasty cupcake.  I had some figs, I had some honey I had cream and some cream cheese. I fashioned myself a honey cupcake, swapping, a cup of sugar for half sugar half honey and using cream instead of milk. In side I popped a little fig jam I made, yes Im obsessed with figs at the moment I know.

Now I always do icing and this time wasn't going to be an exception, however, after whipping up some simple cream cheese icing with balsamic glaze and trying a cake with and without the icing I decided against it. The consistency of the cakes was more like a muffin actually -  although I cooked them for slightly less time that most recipes say -  18 minutes so they don't become too dry or firm. The fig jam had created its own delicious sauce throughout the cupcake and spilling on to the top. It was such a nice flavour and the icing only overpowered it and lost the honey flavours in the cupcake altogether.
In the end I finished the remaining cakes off with a squeeze of balsamic glaze (thicker than dressing) on top only to compliment the figs.

These didn't last long, by all accounts a successful cupcake experiment.

Honey cupcakes

Makes around 12 cakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup cream

1 egg

1 egg white

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

Fig jam

1 cup figs

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

Method
Pre heat the oven to 180c
Line a muffin tray with your cases and set aside.

Start on your fig jam, roughly chopping the figs and adding to a hot pan with the water and brown sugar.  Mix together and let the jam simmer for about 15 minutes until the figs have sort of melted in to the mixture a bit and your left with a sweet smelling thick bubbly jam.  Remove from the heat and let it cool & thicken a little whilst you make the cake batter.

Sift the flour and baking powder in to a mixing bowl and add the sugar.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg & egg white for a few seconds, add the butter, cream & honey. Being in sunny Spain the butter was really soft, so I didn't need to melt it and it mixed with the ingredients easily. (Keep it out for a bit before you start baking to soften it if need be)
Mix these ingredients well together then make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour the wet mix in to this.

Use a whisk to incorporate all this together, give it a good couple of minutes to combine well.  TASTE... my number one rule! At this point I decided not to add vanilla, because the vanilla pods I have are really strong and I wanted these to taste like honey. I did add about a teaspoon of vanilla sugar and a tablespoon or so more honey. This is my taste though and I was pretty much making it up as I went along so go with your gut, no everyones tooth is a sweet as mine!

Once your happy spoon the mixture in to the muffin cases, about 3/4 full. Take the jam and using a teaspoon, spoon about 1 or 2 tsps of the jam to the centre of each muffin case, pushing in to the batter so there is some in side the muffin as it cooks as well as on top. Looks like this....

Once your done with this, pop in the over for 18-20 minutes. They'll be golden on top.. the centre of the cake should be dry on the inside (watch out for the jam) when you pop a knife or toothpick in and out. The jam will be runny and warm, having created a perfect self sauce. No icing required!

Voila!

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COCA DE LLARDONS RECIPE - TRADITIONAL CATALAN CAKE RECIPE

Barcelona, Im in love and I am not sure if I can ever leave you. To be honest I've been a little quiet the last couple of weeks due to Sonar and various other fiestas in the city. This Thursday was a big celebration for midsummer in Catalonia. San Juan fiesta celebrates the summer soultice and 'second easter'.

Traditionally this cake is eaten in Catalonia, Coca de Llardons. Im at first unsure what this is going to taste like, pork cracking and lard with pine nuts, aniseed and sugar....??? HUH?

So I've never tried this 'cake' but I see it in all the bakeries and supermarkets here at this time. My flatmate suggested I try making this as its traditional for this time of year. All I can say is its weird.... pork crackling, lard, very little sugar compared to the flour and pork items.. It has yeast in it and I leave it to sit over night before baking so its almost like a bread more than a cake.

Ingredients
400g Self raising flour
100g water
100g full fat milk at room temperature
100g sugar
150g lard
175g pork crackling
5g salt
1 tsp ground aniseed
20g fresh yeast
50g pinenuts


Method
Combine the water and milk, add sugar then flour & the yeast. Mix until combined and then knead the mixture over a lightly floured surface until no longer sticky. Add the lard and salt, pop it back in to a bowl to mix together as it will become wetter and sticky again. Mix well.

Finely crush the pork crackling, we had this from a packet available in the supermarket here in Barcelona. Its like aged, dry pork fat, not the tasty tasty crackling you get when you roast the pork at Christmas. It was a sort of humid like jerky, really unappealing to touch. Once the crackling is crushed up add it to the mixture along with the aniseed grain and mix well. Form a ball, remove from the bowl and place on floured tray again. Cover with a tea towel and leave for 30 minutes.

Take a baking tray to fit your oven, line with a baking sheet. After 30 minutes stretch the mixture out to form a rectangle shape on your baking tray. Cover and leave over night on the bench.

The next day pre heat the oven to 180c. Sprinkle additional sugar and pine nuts on top and pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Okay so, I've tried it... according to my flat mate this is how its meant to taste so a big tick there. The consistency is like bread, the flavour is, well, porky and I can't get past thinking about what I put in it.  I kind of wish I didn't know what was in it. But judging by the lines of people at the bakery across the road, lining up to buy this cake it must be popular.

So there you have it, an interesting experiment in Catalan cooking. I think I'm in need of something sweet and chocolatey now, off to make some good old Red Velvet cupcakes.

x
bex

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COCKTAIL CUPCAKES : KIR ROYALE / BLUE VELVET CUPCAKE RECIPE

Blue velvet cupcakes were one of the first recipes we tried when we first started baking these mini sweet delights. The moist centre, sweet blueberry flavour. Not as rich as chocolate or vanilla cupcakes. The natural fruit sugars sweeten the cupcake perfectly. We got our original blue velvet inspiration from the totally awesome Catty Life. She rocks! The Blue Velvet cupcake was an easy choice for a base cupcake recipe to sell at our Carousel market. We of course wanted a cocktail theme so we went for a Kir Royale which with some champagne and cassis flavours really worked well with the fresh blueberries.

There are a few Kir royale recipes out there - but most seem to put champagne in the cake -  we chose to put creme de cassis in with the blueberry batter and as with the cocktail topped it off with sweet champagne frosting.


Kir Royale Cupcake Recipe (Adapted from Catty Life's Blue Velvet cupcakes with a twist: blueberry cassis batter and champagne cream cheese frosting!)

Ingredients 60grams unsalted butter 150grams caster sugar 1 egg 100 grams fresh blueberries, blended extra blueberries for cupcakes and decoration 10mL blue food colouring 30ml Creme de cassis 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 100mL buttermilk or natural yoghurt 150grams plain flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar Cream Cheese Champagne Frosting: 350grams icing sugar, sifted 50grams unsalted butter (at room temperature) 125grams cream cheese, cold 5 ml vanilla 50ml champagne / prosecco  Method: Prepare a 24-hole mini muffin tray, lined with cupcake cases. Preheat oven to 170°C/325°F (Gas 3). Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat on a medium speed with an electric whisk until light and fluffy and well mixed. Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together blended blueberries, blue food colouring, vanilla extract and creme de cassis. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until everything is combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Turn the mixer down to a slow speed and add half the buttermilk (or natural yoghurt). Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth even mixture. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes. Spoon the mixture into the cases until 2/3 full. Drop in 2 blueberries per cupcake and bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes for mini cupcake, 20 minutes for normal cupcakes.  A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to slightly cool in the tray before removing to wire cooling rack to cool completely. When cupcakes are cooling make your champagne frosting.  Cream cheese champagne frosting: Beat the icing sugar and butter together with an electric mixer. Add champagne and beat in the cream cheese until it is well mixed (2-3 minutes) . Some happy velveteers at our brunch club:

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MEGA MOIST BANANA BREAD RECIPE (ALSO WITH DAIRY FREE VERSION)

Whenever you find yourself the proud owner of a bunch of brown and mushy bananas dont throw them away! Make banana bread. This simple and sweet recipe is an absolute breeze to bake and in fact tastes much better when the bananas are brown and mushy. The browner and mushier the better!

Its delicious as an afternoon snack. Just slather a few slices with some butter and bobs your uncle. It stays moist for days and even when its getting a bit long in the tooth you can toast it and have it for breakfast.

We recently included bite size pieces of this terrific bread for our most recent brunch club amuse bouche menu to great success. It goes great with coconut flavours (we paired it with a shot of coconut mango lassi). We did bake a dairy free version for some of our guests and substituted coconut milk and oil with good results.

I've even been known to add a tablespoon or so of dessicated coconut to the bread which is delicious - but dont overdo it, can make the bread a bit chewy if you use too much. 

Ingredients 
1 3/4 cups Self raising flour
1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk (replace with coconut milk for dairy free)
75g butter melted (replace with 1/3 cup vegetable oil for dairy free)
1 1/2 cups mashed over ripe bananas

Method
Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Mix in sugar. In another bowl beat eggs. Stir in milk, butter and banana (or the relevant substitutes for Dairy free). Mix into dry ingredients, stirring until just combined.
Spoon mix into greased and lined 23cm loaf tin.

 
Bake at 180 degrees C for 45-55 minutes It should have a nice dark crust. Leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto cooling rack. 

Allow to cool and slice and serve with a generous slathering of butter and let your mouth revel in the magnificent moistness.
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SIMPLE SOURDOUGH LOAF RECIPE

Hello everyone - meet Eric. Topping in at 8 weeks old he's a sour little fellow. Tends to spend most of his time chilling out but does get rather excitable if you give him enough to eat and drink. Loves to party all night with any dough going. Can really raise the roof! 

Yes as you've probably guessed I've named my new wild yeast sourdough starter Eric. My flatmate asked what I was going to call my new 'pet' and it just popped in my head. What is a wild yeast starter I hear you say? Quite simply its a natural yeast culture of flour and water that bubbles and ferments and provides the boost to leaven your bread.

Eric is my newest buddy in the kitchen and he's certainly put his stamp on my bread baking of all persuasions. A long time lover of sourdough bread from bakeries I've made it my mission this year to master the art of artisian sourdough bread.

To do this I didn't jump straight into making the sourdough starter. I felt I needed time to get my general bread baking skillz up to scratch. Some of our followers may have seen my earlier "bread quest" entries as I baked a variety of breads using dried commercial yeast including; rosemary and raisin bread, seeded baguettes, sesame seed round loaf and my so buttery it is practically brioche French style white bread.All delicious. But all lacked that tangy sour-ness that I craved.

With a few tricks up my sleeve I felt I was now ready to make my own soursough starter. Its been a great journey thus far and already I've produced some delicious loaves that surpass all previous ones I have baked.

I've read widely and voraciously many cook books and many specialist sourdough sites and recipes all over the interwebs. If you do a search you will be amazed at the vibrant community of sourdough bakers out there. It is a highly specialised subject once you get into it - complete with its own quirky lingo and acronyms which can be a little overwhelming but well worth the effort.

I wont try to re-invent the wheel with this post - there are numerous very well written articles out there. I will however reproduce one of the plain speaking ones I came across in my travels which covers the basics of sourdough better than anyone else. Its written by games designer and passionate foodie S. John Ross. Its called Sourdough baking : the basics and its well worth a read for getting you up to speed. It contains the recipe I followed for the sourdough loaf pictured. However I did use my own shaping and baking techniques to create the loaf which I have included as notes at the bottom of this post.

Whilst I've included John's descrption and recipe for creating a sourdolugh 'starter' I myself used a slightly different recipe for creating my 'starter' using Rye flour and pineapple juice recipe from the excellent bread baking community The Fresh Loaf. Something about it appealed to me and it worked first time without a hitch. So without any further adieu here is the basic's of sourdough baking:


There are only a few simple steps to becoming a sourdough baker. First, you must create a starter: This is a bubbly batter that you keep in your fridge. The starter is mixed into a dough, and it causes the bread to rise. Bake and serve. Yum!

Creating Your Starter
The novel thing about sourdough baking is that it requires that you keep something alive in your fridge. I think of my starter as a pet, kept and fed so that Sandra and I will have all the bread we need. Sourdough "starter" is a batter of flour and water, filled with living yeast and bacteria. The yeast and bacteria form a stable symbiotic relationship, and (as long as you keep the starter fed) can live for centuries, a thriving colony of microorganisms. To make sourdough bread, you blend the starter with some flour and make dough. The yeast propogates, and leavens your bread. This is how you make your starter:

• Select a container that your "pet" will live in. A wide-mouthed glass jar is best. I use a glass jar with a rubber and wireframe seal; you can find these for $2-$4 in any antique or junk shop. A small crock with a loose lid is also great; these can be bought in cheap sets for serving soup. You can also use a rubbermaid or tupperware container. I've begun starters using the plastic containers that take-out Chinese soup comes in, and then transferred them to jars later! A wide-mouthed mayonnaise or pickle jar will also do just fine. Metallic containers are a bad idea; some of them are reactive and can ruin your starter (for the same reason, avoid using metal utensils to stir your starter).
• Blend a cup of warm water and a cup of flour, and pour it into the jar. That's the whole recipe! I use plain, unbleached bread flour most of the time, but I've had good results with all-purpose and whole-wheat flour, too. If you want, you can add a little commercial yeast to a starter to "boost" it. If you do this, sourdough snobs will look down their nose at you - but who cares about snobs? I personally find that (at least here where I live) no yeast "boost" is necessary, and I can make "real" sourdough with no trouble. But if you are having trouble, go ahead and cheat. I won't tell. Note that starter made with commercial yeast often produces a bread with less distinctive sour flavor than the real thing.
• Every 24 Hours, Feed the Starter. You should keep the starter in a warm place; 70-80 degrees Farenheit is perfect. This allows the yeast already present in the flour (and in the air) to grow rapidly. Temperatures hotter than 100 degrees or so will kill it. You can take comfort from the fact that almost nothing else will do so. The way you feed the starter is to (A) throw away half of it and then (B) add a half-cup of flour and a half-cup of water. Do this every 24 hours. Within three or four days (it can take longer, a week or more, and it can happen more quickly) you should start getting lots of bubbles throughought, and a pleasant sour or beery smell. The starter may start to puff up, too. This is good. Here's the gist: When your starter develops a bubbly froth, it is done. You have succeeded. If this sounds brain-dead simple, that's because it is. People who didn't believe the Earth was round did this for millenia.
• Refrigerate the Starter. Keep the starter in your fridge, with a lid on it. Allow a little breathing space in the lid. If you're using a mayo or pickle jar, punch a hole in the lid with a nail, that kind of thing. Once the starter is chilled, it needs to be fed only once a week. Realistically, you can get away with less; it's important to remember that your starter is a colony of life-forms that are almost impossible to kill (except with extreme heat). Even starving them is difficult.

Care and Feeding: Hooch
Aside from weekly feeding, the only other thing you need to worry about is hooch. Hooch is a layer of watery liquid (often dark) that contains alchohol. It smells a bit like beer, because it is a bit like beer - but don't drink it! Hooch builds up in your starter, especially in the fridge. Just pour it off or stir it back in. It doesn't hurt anything. If your starter is looking dry, stir it back in. If your starter is plenty wet, pour it off. Just remember that hooch is nothing to worry about!
Sourdough Baking Step One: Proofing the Sponge
Several hours before you plan to make your dough (recipe below), you need to make a sponge. A "sponge" is just another word for a bowl of warm, fermented batter. This is how you make your sponge.

• Take your starter out of the fridge. Pour it into a large glass or plastic bowl. Meanwhile, wash the jar and dry it. You may also wish to pour boiling water over it, since you don't want other things growing in there with your pet!
• Add a cup of warm water and a cup of flour to the bowl. Stir well, and set it in a warm place for several hours. This is called "proofing," another word for fermenting. Sourdough bakers have their own language; use it to impress your friends ;)
• Watch for Froth and and Sniff. When your sponge is bubbly and has a white froth, and it smells a little sour, it is ready. The longer you let the sponge sit, the more sour flavor you will get.

The proofing-time varies. Some starters can proof up to frothiness in an hour or two. Some take 6-8 hours, or even longer. Just experiment and see how long yours takes. If you're going to bake in the morning, set your sponge out to proof overnight.
Sourdough Baking Step Two: The Actual Recipe
Of course, there are a lot of recipes for sourdough bread. There are also recipes for sourdough rolls, sourdough pancakes, sourdough pretzels, sourdough bagels, and probably sourdough saltines for all I know. This is the basic recipe I use, though, and it's simple and makes a fine bread. You'll need the following:

• 2 Cups of sponge (proofed starter)
• 3 Cups of unbleached flour
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil or softened margarine
• 4 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of salt

First, let's talk about leftover sponge. You should have some. The leftover sponge is your starter for next time: Put it into the jar, and give it a fresh feed of a half-cup each of flour and warm water. Keep it in the fridge as above; you'll have starter again next time.
Now, for the recipe: To the sponge, add the sugar, salt, and oil (the oil is optional - you can use softened butter instead, or no oil at all). Mix well, then knead in the flour a half-cup at a time. Knead in enough flour to make a good, flexible bread dough. You can do this with an electric mixer, a bread machine on "dough cycle," or a food processor. You can also do it with a big bowl and your bare hands.
Keep in mind that flour amounts are approximate; flour varies in absorbency, and your sponge can vary in wetness. Use your judgement; treat it like ordinary white or french bread dough. Trust your hands and eyes more than the recipe, always.
Let the dough rise in a warm place, in a bowl covered loosely with a towel (if you're using a bread machine's dough cycle, let it rise in the machine). Note that sourdough rises more slowly than yeast bread; my starter takes about an hour or so, but some starters take much longer. Let the dough double in bulk, just like yeast-bread dough. When a finger poked into the top of the dough creates a pit that doesn't "heal" (spring back), you've got a risen dough.
Punch the dough down and knead it a little more. Make a loaf and place it on a baking sheet (lightly greased or sprinkled with cornmeal). Slit the top if you like, and cover the loaf with a paper towel and place it in a warm place to rise again, until doubled in bulk.
Place the pan with the loaf in your oven, and then turn your oven to 350^o Farenheit and bake the bread for 30-45 minutes.

NICK'S NOTES:

RYE / JUICE STARTER
So that folks is pretty much how I did it. As mentioned above I followed slightly different starter recipe than S. John suggested - opting instead to kickstart it along using the citric acid of the pineapple juice with rye flour technique. It worked first time without a hitch - took about seven days.

SHAPING & SCORING THE LOAF

When it came to the second rising... effectively the rise where it gains its shape you finally eat it in I had found from earlier experience that unless you help guide it into the right oblong shape it will just rise outwards into a flat oval shape. Most serious bakers have a bread basket for this job. Unfortunately I do not. But one trick I picked up from a website out there (forgive me I have forgotten which one) when it comes to shaping a traditional loaf is to generously flour a clean tea towel and gently place the loaf shaped dough into the rectangle of tea towel then fold the lengthways seams together and twist the ends up loosely like a boiled lolly. Turn over so the loaf is sitting on top of the seam and make sure you leave enough space inside to swell. Pin down the ends with weights if you like. When you return in a few hours you will find it has swollen into its new shape nicely. Be as gentle as you can when you lift and remove it onto a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal. Gently peel the seams away from underneath one at a time. It should be covered in flour which allows you to cut three stripes across at an angle as pictured. That is the easiest and most simple way to score the loaf. If you have a super sharp knife (or better still razor or scalpel) you can cut one or two cuts slightly off centre down the length of the loaf for that artisian chic. Main thing is to do this immediately before you put in the oven.

USING STEAM TO ASSIST RISE / CHECK CRUST FORMATION AFTER 10 MINS
Final point. I disagree with S. John's baking insturctions in so much as he proposes placing the loaf in a cool oven and warming up to temperature. My experience leads me to suggest you should get the oven as hot as you can with a heavy tray at the bottom, boil your jug and pour a few cups of boiling water to create steam in the oven and put your loaf in. The steam and heat allow the loaf to rise as much as possible in the oven before a hard crust forms. If you then turn down to 180 degrees or so and check the loaf after 10 minutes. If a light brown or white crust is apparent boost up to 190. If a dark crust is already forming then lower the cooking temp to 170 or so. You should still bake for between 35 - 45 minutes to allow it to cook properly.

Remove and let to cool compeltely before cutting. Revel in the sour-y crunchy goodness. You wont be disappointed.

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SESAME SEED ROUND LOAF : BREAD RECIPE

Just a quick one. I've been baking a variety of breads lately. In fact I haven't really had to buy a loaf of bread in months now which is great (bags of flour on the other hand...). I've been obsessed with baking different types of multi-grain seeded loaves over the last few weeks and going to make another one I suddenly realised my big bag of mixed seeds had finally run out. Doh! But while rustling around I did spy a packet of hulled sesame seeds in my larder so decided to make a round sesame loaf.

Once the idea came to me I was excited and even a little nostalgic as I have very fond memories of eating this type of bread when I was just a wee lad. On Saturdays my Dad would go to the local bakery and buy a large sesame loaf which was super light and airy with a hard crunchy crust and covered with lovely toasted sesame seeds. We would slice it thick and eat it fresh most often with butter and golden syrup, sometimes just bananas or even just peanut butter. Lush.  

As I like to constantly try new recipes I followed the white bread recipe from the back of the Doves Farm Organic flour packet as a guide - it turned out pretty well.

Ingredients
500g / 1lb White bread flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Quick yeast
1 tsp Sugar
300 ml/ 10 fl oz Warm water
1 tbsp Vegetable oil

Method
In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt quick yeast and sugar. Carefully measure water and roughly mix it into the flour. While dough is still craggy add the oil and knead until well until it feels smooth and pliable.

Leave the dough in a bowl in a warm place covered with damp cloth until the dough doubles in size (1 - 2 hours). Once this is done turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for several minutes.

Next you need to shape into a boule or ball. To ensure the bread keeps its shape and rises well you need to create adequate surface tension. Start with a rough ball and pull a little section of the dough from the top of the dough of it out towards the side, and stretch underneath to the bottom of the ball. Rotate the ball slightly and repeats the process until the whole loaf is a tight ball shaped with the seam meeting in the middle of the underside. It should sit nice and perky on your baking tray.

Put onto a greased tray or greased baking sheet. Baste with milk and carefully place a small handful of sesame seeds on top. Allow to rise for half an hour then bake in a preheated oven at 220°C / 200°C Fan for 35 / 40 minutes.

One final tip I tend to put an extra tray at the bottom of the oven when preheating and throw a cup of water in it when I bake the loaf. The resuting steam seems to help the loaf rise and crust form.

This was a good loaf but I might look at tweaking the recipe. Possibly using honey as a sweetener or a sour dough starter. Will report on the results.

Nice one.
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ROSEMARY AND RAISIN BREAD

I've always loved raisin bread. Crunchy raisin toast with butter is one of my favourite breakfasts. There's a bakery in my neighbourhood that makes the most wonderful raisin buns with sticky glaze that have a hint of rosemary in them. If you haven't tried those two flavours together before it may seem a bit odd - but the combination of savoury and sweet really works and makes baking (and eating) this bread that extra bit special.

I've been tweaking a few standard bread recipes to turn it into a tasty rosemary and raisin loaf and think I have got a pretty good one here. Raisin bread is typically sweeter than ordinary bread (hence why it burns so easily in the toaster) so I've used treacle in that role. You can also use honey but I prefer the more mellow sweetness treacle delivers. Also I use a combination of strong bread flour and wholemeal flour to give it a fuller bodied crumb. When working with the dough and proving - I like to keep it more on the sticky end of the scale as I think it ends up more stretchy and ultimately rises better.

Ingredients:
1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tblsp treacle
2 tblsp melted butter
1/2 tsps sea salt
Small handful finely chopped fresh rosemary
3 cups flour (Play with the combinations if you like - I use 2 cups strong white and one cup wholemeal)
1 cup mixed raisins (I have a mix that includes orange peel. Any dried fruit combination works. I've added some dried cranberries in batch pictured)
1/2 tblsp icing sugar
Dash of milk 

Method:
Place raisins in small container - add a dash of water to slightly cover and rehydrate them. Combine the yeast, water and treacle in a small bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes or until the yeast softens and froths somewhat. In a larger bowl combine the flour and the salt. Create a well in the centre. Stir in the butter, raisins, rosemary and combined yeast and treacle mixture in stages. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon, then place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 6 minutes, adding any remaining flour as necessary. Add flour as you need to work it but try to keep it on the stickier end.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for about 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
Grease one 8 ½" x 4 ½" loaf pan well. Punch the dough down to deflate it. Form into a smooth loaf and place in the prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for about 1 hour or until the dough has risen to the top of the pans. If desired place some Rosemary on top as a decorative feature
Preheat the oven to 180° C. Uncover the risen loaves. Place the pan into centre of the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is dark brown and crusty. Remove from the oven and tap out onto wire rack. Turn the oven off and return the bread to the oven upside down to crisp for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

For that special raisin bread glaze, combine half a tablespoon of icing sugar with a splash of milk so it forms a runny paste and brush on the top of the cooling loaf. Watch it transform into a shiny lovely sweet crust. Delicious fresh with a cheese platter or cut thick as doorstop toast and smothered in butter. MMMMM 

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FRENCH STYLE WHITE BREAD

This recipe is from the wonderful cook book The American Boulangerie. I followed it to the letter. I questioned the amount of butter as when mixing it seemed far too much for a single loaf. But oh wow... when it came out of the oven it the smell took me right back to Paris! The buttery goodness gave it a firm texture and a nice delicate crumb. The egg wash gave it a wonderful shiny crust for that boulangerie chic. Definitely try this one...

MAKES ONE LUSCIOUS LOAF

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup water at room temperature
2 tsp (1/3 ounce) compressed fresh yeast
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup (4 ounces) European style butter, softened, plus additional for pans
2 1/3 cups organic bread flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 large egg, beaten, for egg wash

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the water and yeast. Let rest until creamy (around 5 minutes). Place the bowl on the mixer and fit with the dough hook (I mixed half portions in my processor with a bread blade). Add the milk, butter, flour, sugar and salt. Mix on low speed, turning the machine on and off a few times, until it seems the flour will stay in the bowl and not fly about. Increase the speed to medium and mix, stopping to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed, until the dough is smooth and elastic, (about 10 minutes). Transfer the dough to a large floured bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature, until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

2. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf tin and set aside. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Shape the dough into a rectangle with a 9 inch width. Start rolling the dough form the short edge. Roll tightly, pressing down the seam with the heel of your hand as you roll. Transfer the dough roll to the prepared pan, seam side down. (The bread may look small in the pan, but don't worry it will grow.) Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until the dough is level with the top of the pan (about 2 hours). While the bread is rising, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

3. Brush the top of the loaf with egg wash. Bake for 40 minutes or until dark brown. Remove the loaf from the pan and check it for doneness. It should be hollow when tapped on the bottom. If you have any doubts, put the loaf back in the oven (without the pan) and leaving the door slightly ajar, bake for 5 more minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a plastic bag and slice when needed. It will stay fresh for at least 5 days. the bread can be frozen, wrapped airtight, for up to a month.
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WHOLE GRAIN BAGUETTES

In my ongoing quest to bake the perfect loaf of bread I was given a fantastic cookbook by my brother called The American Boulangerie. It documents the meteoric rise of Pascal Rigo, a French emigre' who rose to become one of the premier bakers in San Fransisco. The book is full of wonderful stories and contains many easy to follow authentic French style bread and patisserie recipes.

I have stepped up the ante of late, buying ever better organic flour and seeking out fresh yeast. One recipe that caught my eye is a simple yet delicious bread recipe for Couronnes (crown shaped bread), which I have adapted in to a baguette style. I suggest if you do shape as a baguette cut the traditional diagonal slices across the top of the bread just before baking. In the photos above I did not do this, but in subsequent batches it makes it look more impressive.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cups water at room temperature
2 tbsp (1 ounce) compressed fresh yeast
3 cups (16 ounces) organic white flour
2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup (2 ounces) mixed organic seeds

METHOD:
1. In a large bowl whisk together the water and the yeast. Let rest until the yeast is creamy, around 5 minutes. Add flour, salt and seeds to yeast all at once and mix until all combined.
Turn is out on to a lightly floured work surface and kneed by hand until smooth (6-8 min) Cover with clean tea towel and let the dough rise, on the lightly floured work surface, until doubled in size. (1 1/2 hours)
2. Divide the dough in to 5 pieces and roll each piece so it tapers down at the end (see picture)



Place a sheet of baking paper on to a tray and arrange in a row, sprinkle some more seeds on top and a light dusting of excess flour. Cover with tea towel and let the baguettes rise until doubled in size. (about 35 minutes). At this stage you can cut three diagonal slashes across the dough.

3. Place a roasting pan directly on the bottom of the oven, preheat the over to 180 degrees.
Place the tray of baguettes in to the oven. Quickly but carefully pour one cup water in to the hot roasting pan below them and close the door as quickly as you can to trap the steam. Bake until bread is golden brown, around 20-25 minutes. They are better if slightly under baked.
Transfer to a wire tray to let them cool slightly, serve warm.

These are absolutely wonderful fresh and warm with butter, the seeds make them quite nutty. For this batch I served them with homemade Butternut Pumpkin soup. Delicious!


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