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Footprints in Flour, Peterborough (2026)

07/06/2020

Bread – Seedy Rye Sourdough

This bread recipe is the absolute favourite of my Granddaughter Esmae. When flour was so difficult to get, wholemeal rye was not just difficult to get, it was impossible and Esmae was mightily upset at no seedy bread from Nanna!!

Luckily I managed to track some down from the lovely Matthews Cotswold Flour company, a superb artisan miller that has been family run since the 1800’s and from whom I now buy all my bread flour from and highly recommend them.
As you can imagine, as soon as my Husband delivered the long-awaited loaf, Esmae was right in there with a slice of still warm bread and melty butter 😊

This is wonderful when it is really fresh, I often have a slice with no butter, but also still lovely a couple of days on and then fantastic toasted. The recipe makes one large loaf but of course, I double it up to make two loaves – one for us and one for Esmae. You might be surprised that there is only 50g of rye flour in the mix but much more and the bread would be very, very heavy and dense.
You can use different seeds e.g. sesame seeds instead of flax or linseeds, just adapt and use your favourites.

This bread does need at least one long re****ed prove in the fridge overnight or all day – I usually do this for the second prove once it is in the proving basket but you can make both proves re****ed as it does really help with flavour development. I just can’t wait that long for my seedy loaf!

Ingredients
350g strong white flour
50g wholemeal rye flour
10g salt
200g sourdough starter
250g cold water
100g sunflower seeds
50g flax seeds
25g poppy seeds

Method
In a clean frying pan, dry toast the seeds over a medium heat, starting with the sunflower seeds. Keep stirring them and once they have started to darken and give up their delicious aroma, add the flax seeds. Be careful with these as once they are hot they do tend to hop and spit, so I cover the pan with a splatter guard and shake the pan to move the seeds around and continue to toast. Finally add the poppy seeds and toast for a couple more minutes before switching off the heat and you can leave in the pan to go cold or tip onto a large plate. I usually do this the night before so that the seeds are all totally cold.

Mix the flours, starter and 200g of the water into a soft dough in your mixer bowl with your dough hook.
Leave for between 30-60 minutes to autolyse.

Knead the mix for 5 minutes, add about 20g of the remaining water and then knead for another 5 minutes.

Tip the dough onto the oiled work surface (use a flavourless oil) and give it a couple of minutes knead by hand and then stretch out the dough to form a rough circle. Sprinkle a little more water onto the surface and then add a third of your toasted seeds. Bring the edges of the dough up and over to completely enclose the seeds and carefully knead the dough to incorporate the seeds – some seeds will pop out but just keep scooping them back into the dough. Repeat this until all the seeds have been added to the dough and you have a small amount of water left – about 10-20g. You will have to re-oil your surface at least once to stop the dough from sticking.

Give the dough a good knead and then flatten out again ready to add the salt. Make lots of fingertip impressions on the surface of the dough, sprinkle half the water onto this, then the salt and then the rest of the water. As before, bring the edges up and over and knead the dough thoroughly to incorporate the salt.

You will need a high level of gluten development for this bread so do thoroughly knead the dough and make sure that you do your windowpane test to be really sure that it is ready for proving.

Fold over your dough into a ball and pop into a lightly oiled bowl – cover and leave on the side. If you are going to re**rd prove, leave the dough out for a couple of hours before putting into the fridge. Otherwise leave the dough on the side to double in size for at least 4 hours, possibly 5 hours.

Once the dough has proved, tip it out onto a lightly floured work surface. This dough will be much stiffer than a regular white sourdough one so don’t be alarmed. Gently stretch out the dough and using the method described previously, shape your dough and put it into the prepared proving basket. Cover and leave on the side for two hours and then pop into the fridge where it can stay for 6-12 hours.

When you are ready to bake your bread, pre-heat the oven, baking stone or baking sheet and shallow baking tray (for the hot water) for at least 45 minutes at the highest temperature or 240C fan or gas 8.

Turn your oven down to 200C fan or gas 6.5 and lightly flour the hot baking stone or sheet and tip your loaf out onto it.
Score your loaf before putting into the oven and tip some boiling water into the baking tray on the shelf below to create steam and bake your loaf, turn it round after 15 minutes and then bake for a further 15 minutes until cooked.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Esmae and I hope that you enjoy this loaf as much as we do! 😊

25/05/2020

Scones

Hello to all my lovely followers, sorry to have been quiet so the last couple of weeks. This was mostly down to my oven deciding that after 12 years of loyal service, it could take no more and with a loud bang and a great deal of moaning and groaning it gave up the ghost. I am now the possessor of a brand-new oven and over the last couple of weeks, have been getting to know it, it has taken a bit of experimentation, but I am nearly there now.

As you have all found, flour has been a major problem to find. I have had to resort to buying strong flour online. Some have been good and others not so much, especially if you want to make Sourdough, which has meant that I have some flour that I would not use again for that. I will be using it for making Baguettes, regular bread and then I have also found a great recipe from Paul Hollywood for making Scones with strong flour and baking powder which really do come out so light and fluffy that I will be using this as my go-to recipe from now on.

Ingredients

500g strong white flour – sift and separate into two bowls 450g and 50g
80g soft butter
80g caster sugar
2 large eggs beaten
5 teaspoons baking powder
250ml milk

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 200C for a fan oven, 220C or gas mark 7. Set your oven trays to the middle of the oven and just below and put your baking stone in to heat up (if you have one).

Grease with a little butter and then flour 2 baking trays.

Using the 450g flour, add the soft butter and rub together to create a very fine, breadcrumb type texture.
Add the sugar and baking powder to the flour and mix together, then make a well in the centre.
Pour the eggs and half the milk into the well – you will now need to work as quickly as you can because as soon as you add liquid to baking powder it activates. Using a large spoon, turn the mixture over gently to combine. Gradually add the remaining milk a little at a time to form a soft and wet dough.

Sprinkle most of the remaining50g of flour onto your work surface, tip your dough out onto this and then use the last remaining amount of flour by sprinkling it on top of the dough.
Use your hands to gently fold the dough in half and give it a quarter turn – do this a few times to incorporate the flour and add air, until the dough is smooth and manageable but be careful not to overwork the dough. Flour your hands if need be.

Sprinkle a little more flour onto the work surface. You can either use a rolling pin but I do not think this is needed, just use the palms of your hands and gently press out the dough until it is just under a centimetre thick.

Using a pastry cutter, dipped into flour to stop it sticking, cut out your scones. Top tip is to press down but do not twist the cutter, just lift it up and press out your scones onto the prepared baking tray.

Gather up your dough off-cuts and reform to cut out the rest of your scones. I find that this recipe makes 12 good size scones but it all depends on the size of your cutter. I like to give my scones plenty of room to rise which is why I use 2 trays.
If you want to glaze your scones, use another beaten egg making sure that the egg does not run down the sides, but I personally think that this is a bit of a waste of an egg so I don’t bother.

Bake for 15 minutes until your scones are well risen and are a golden colour.
Leave to cool on a wire rack, then split them in half and serve with lashings of butter, jam and for a treat, clotted cream.

The big question is:
Do you put the jam or the clotted cream on first?
Whatever way you do this, sit back with a cup of lovely tea or coffee and enjoy them!!!

07/05/2020

Bread – Baguettes

There is nothing nicer than a fresh Baguette and with the weather warming up as spring progresses and summer gets nearer, all we need is for lock-down to be lifted so we can plan picnics and days out. And even if we can’t do that for a while, we can still enjoy a Baguette indoors or in the garden, either to accompany a meal or as a snack.

What could be more traditionally French than their much-loved Baguettes. Originally, Baguettes were always sourdoughs but this started to change when French bakers, in the late Victorian era, started to slowly adopt the new commercial yeast. This new yeast was viewed with suspicion and therefore, was incorporated very slowly and the resulting recipe is the one that I use (thanks to the recipe by James Morton of Bake Off fame), which is much the same as the one that the French bakers landed on and incorporates both the fermentation method and the use of yeast - the best of both.

You will need to buy a 4 flute Baguette Baking Tray, ideally non-stick – I bought mine from Amazon but you will be able to also buy from places such as Dobbies Garden Centre in the future. Some recipes say you can use a thick, heavily floured tea towel but I have to say that I do not have much confidence in that.

Start the preparation the night before you plan to make your Baguettes by making a Poolish – this is a preferment of yeast, flour and water which is mixed together, covered and left to ferment for 6-16 hours.

Recipe – makes 4 baguettes

For the Poolish
100g plain white flour
100g cold water
7g (1 sachet) fast action or instant yeast

For the Dough
300g plain white flour
200g strong white flour
12g salt
200g sourdough starter (12-24 hours since last fed)
250g tepid water
All of the poolish

Method
Make the Poolish the night before and leave to ferment
The next day mix both flours together and add the starter, poolish and 200g of the water. Mix to a wet dough and leave to autolyse (rest) for 30 minutes.

Knead, either in the mixer with the dough hook for 5 minutes, or by hand on an oiled surface for 10-15 minutes.
If using the mixer, finish kneading by hand for a few minutes to avoid the dough getting too warm.

Using your fingertips, stretch out the dough, making indentations in the surface. Sprinkle half of the remaining water over the dough then sprinkle the salt over that and then the rest of the water.
Bring the edges of the dough up and over to the centre and thoroughly knead the dough to fully incorporate the water and salt. Make sure that the dough passes the windowpane test to ensure that it has been kneaded sufficiently.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean tea towel or a plastic, re-useable food cover.
Leave to prove for 2-3 hours until doubled in size.

Prep your Baguette Baking Tray by sprinkling with flour and/or coarse semolina.

Tip out the dough onto a floured surface and cut into 4 equal pieces with your bench cutter.
Shape into batons and working from the middle, roll out into your long baguettes and lay them in the flutes of your prepared tray.

Now leave to rest and prove in the fridge for 4-8 hours. I use a plastic carrier bag and pop the tray inside this before putting into the fridge.

About 40 minutes before you are ready to bake, preheat your oven, baking stone and shallow roasting tin at the highest heat setting.
When fully proved, score the baguettes lengthwise with a blade and place them in their tray in the oven on the stone.
Pour some boiling water into the hot roasting tin to create steam and turn the temperature down to 210C or Gas 7 and bake for 30-40 minutes.

These are perfect for freezing – par bake for 15-20 minutes, allow to go cold and place into the freezer, either in an airtight container or bag. This way you will always have some fabulous baguettes ready for those impromptu moments when needed. Just heat the oven again and bake from frozen until golden and crisp – mmmmm delicious!

This has made me quite hungry so it’s a cheerio for now as I’m off for a snack and get my poolish ready for tomorrows baguettes.

30/04/2020

Top Tips for Saving Money and Time

Hello dear readers, hope that todays’ post finds you all well. This weeks’ weather is hugely different to that of last week but at least it means that we can crack on with some baking.

I have been thinking of some ideas to help you to save some money in these days where Supermarket bargains seem to have disappeared and the shopping basket costs have seriously risen.
Most of my tips do involve the freezer so you will need to have tubs that have a sealable lid – I save my Ice Cream tubs and my Daughter saves her take-away tubs – why waste money buying these containers when you have them for free and can re-use. I also have a stash of plastic bags for freezing that I simply re-use several times to try to be more eco-aware and avoid one-time use.
Many money saving tips also work to save you time when in the future you either don’t want to faff around or you are tired after a long day.

Save Money - make your own chicken stock

Make a space in your freezer for a large plastic bag or sealable box. As you prep veg, rather than throw away, pop the peelings, tops and tails from carrots, leeks, celery, onions into the bag and freeze – see the picture of my bag. Keep topping up your bag, you can also use veg that is past its best such as that soft carrot which you can roughly chop and chuck in. You can use these straight from the freezer either for making stock or when a recipe, such as boiled Gammon, calls for a mix of root veg to be used. Why would you use your perfectly good new veg when you can use the trimmings that you would normally just throw away.

When you roast a Chicken or joint up a whole chicken, use the carcass to make stock. Put the carcass into a large pan, add a couple of big handfuls of your frozen veg bits and bobs and fill the pan with cold water along with 2 bay leaves, a few peppercorns and herbs such as thyme or oregano (fresh or dried) - if you don’t have these it is not the end of the world, all you are doing is adding a little more flavour.
Simply bring the pan to the boil and simmer for an hour on a low light. Skim off any bubbly scum that rises to the surface.
Pour your stock through a strainer, leave the liquid to go cold and discard the veg and chicken bones.

Keep your stock in the fridge but use within 3 days. Any that is left over or if you are not planning to use immediately can be frozen in ice-cube trays or shallow containers and then, once frozen popped into a freezer bag so that you can simply grab the next time you need chicken stock – again I have added a picture of mine.

Save time and money - freeze grated cheddar

When you see Cheddar at a good price or when the days of 2 for 1 return, bulk buy. Cheese freezes extremely well, especially hard cheese such as Cheddar. You can also save money if you have not used your cheddar and it is close to passing its use by date, freeze it rather than throw away and use for cooking.

You can freeze it as a block but I like to grate Cheddar and put into a box or bag in the freezer and when it is fully frozen, give it a bit of a bash and it will separate into shavings as you can see in the picture. You can use straight from the freezer for cooking, no need to defrost, just sprinkle into your sauce or on top of your dish (such as lasagne) before putting into the oven to cook.

Save money - freeze butter

Butter is another product that many people do not realise can be frozen. Whenever I see butter on special offer, either the 250g blocks or in the easy-spread tubs, I bulk buy and pop it into the freezer. Butter defrosts very easily and there is no difference in taste.

Save time and money - freeze mashed potato

If you have some potatoes that need using up, rather than let them go to seed or mouldy make them into mash or if you are making mashed potatoes anyway make extra to have some to freeze.

You will need to use a large plastic bag (you can keep using the same bag each time you do this to keep down the disposal of plastic). Put the cold mash into the bag and seal the top. Lay the bag on the work surface and press the mash out in the bag so that you end up with a sheet of mash and freeze this flat. When you use the mash simply let it defrost, heat in the Microwave, add a little extra milk and butter and give it a good whisk and you have perfect mash.

There are several benefits to doing this:
If you only need a small amount of mash you can simply break off the amount that you need from the sheet and re-seal the bag as in the picture.
The mash defrosts very quickly as a thin sheet rather than a block. You could also break up the sheet into pieces and easily defrost in the Microwave.
Making mash is not a favourite pastime for me simply because you end up with everything covered in the horrid potato starch that is a real pain to wash off. I therefore make the mash in bulk so that I make it less often but the amount of washing up is the same.

Save time - freeze mince-based recipes

In the same way as I described for freezing mash, flat in bags, it is also the best way to freeze mince or veggie recipes such as Chilli, Bolognaise Sauce, Savoury Mince. A flat bag of sauce takes up less space in the Freezer as you can stand them on their side or stack on top of each other. It also takes much less time to defrost as the frozen sauce is much thinner with a greater surface area than freezing in a tub. When you make any recipe like these why not make a larger quantity and freeze some so you have a quick tea for another day.

Save money – stale bread

If you find that you have a part used uncut loaf that is going stale, don’t throw it in the bin. Instead remove the crusts and cut into cubes, pop into a bag or tub that can be sealed and freeze. When you are having soup or salad you can add some crunch with croutons. Simply grab some frozen bread cubes and fry them in some olive oil – no need to defrost before cooking – these are delicious!
You can also use up your stale bread by blitzing it into breadcrumbs in the processor. Once again these can be frozen for using in the future, so you always have crumbs ready for recipes that call for something to be bread crumbed.

I hope that this has been useful, any feedback would be great. If anyone has any other tips, I would love to hear them so please share.
Next posting I will be going back to bread – I am going to share with you how to make Baguettes which you can part-bake and freeze.

28/04/2020

Pastry Recipes

Shortcrust Pastry – Quiche
I love to make a Quiche because I can use up bits and pieces in the fridge. You can add what you like to the basic egg, milk, cream and cheese mix. It is so versatile in that it can be made for tea tonight, warm with salad or veg and the left over makes a great lunch the next day. I make Quiche for a family picnic or packed lunch when on a day out somewhere – we can’t wait for those days to return!!
The other good news is that you can freeze a cooked Quiche although the pastry will not be as crisp but that is a minor thing compared to the convenience.

The type of things that I add to a Quiche are mushrooms, peppers, bacon or ham – it depends on what I can find and individual preferences.

Here is the recipe that has long been a family favourite but you don’t need to be a slave to it, leave out what you don’t like or add in anything that you prefer:

24cm flan case lined with shortcrust pastry and blind baked
1 large onion, chopped
6 slices of bacon, chopped (use whatever you have or some ham)
Good handful of mushrooms, sliced
Half a pepper, chopped
Mixed herbs (optional), salt and pepper
5 large eggs
100ml cream (use double, single or whipping - if you don’t have any cream add another egg and increase the amount of milk)
100ml milk (again, just use what is in the fridge)
100g grated cheese (I like cheddar for flavour but use what needs using up)
1-2 tomatoes, sliced

Method
Oven temperature should be 180C or 170C fan or Gas 4

Gently fry the onion in a tablespoon of oil until soft.
Add the bacon and fry to allow the fat from the bacon to run (this is called rendering). If you are using ham add this after the mushrooms and pepper as it is already cooked.
Add the mushrooms and pepper and allow to soften.
Tip all the contents of the pan into the blind baked flan case and evenly spread out to cover the base, sprinkle with herbs to taste (or not)
Add the grated cheese over the top.
Combine the eggs, milk and cream in a jug, add salt (just a small pinch as bacon and cheese already contain salt) and pepper and whisk together.
Pour the egg mix into the flan – you need to fill to a centimetre from the top to allow for the mix to rise-up during cooking without spilling over the edge.
Decorate with the sliced tomato.

Cook on a baking sheet/tray in the centre of the oven for 35-40 minutes until the filling is set.
Remove from oven when cooked and allow to cool on a wire rack before removing from the flan tin.

A Quiche is best eaten when it is warm rather than hot, or when completely cold.

Variations to consider using for a change:
Cooked broccoli spears
Spinach
Cooked asparagus spears
Sliced courgette
Sliced leek
Cooked, cubed butternut squash
Sweetcorn
Cooked salmon or smoked salmon
Cream cheese
Crumbled blue cheese
Goats cheese

Have fun and experiment if you dare – my (grown-up?) kids are not so keen on family favourites being adapted!

Sweet Pastry - Bakewell Tart – 24cm flan case

This is a great recipe and one that I used when Sophie and Neil got married and we had a large family Hog Roast in the garden next day. I made 10 of them!!!

You can blind bake your tart case for 10-15 minutes at 190C or 180C fan before cooking the filling to ensure there is no soggy bottom but wait for it to cool before adding the jam. If you do this, turn the oven down to 180C or 160C fan to cook the filling for 20 minutes.

The other way is to cook the pastry and filling together but turning the oven down after 10-15 minutes. This is how I make it and is the method below.

Sweet Pastry using recipe previously given
4 tablespoons raspberry or strawberry jam
125g ground almonds
125g caster sugar
50g soft butter
3 eggs, beaten (it does not really make much difference if you use large or medium size)
¼ teaspoon almond extract

Method
Heat the oven – 190C 180C fan, Gas 5. If you have a baking stone put that in the oven also.

Line your flan tin with the pastry and put into the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes to chill.
Put the ground almonds, sugar, butter, eggs and almond extract into a bowl and whisk together.
Spread the jam evenly over the pastry base and pour the almond mixture over it.
You can use the pastry trimmings to decorate the Bakewell Tart by rolling the excess pastry thinly and cutting into long strips, twisting and laying across in a lattice design before cooking the tart.

Put the tart into the oven, on top of the hot baking stone if you are using one.
Cook for 10 minutes at the high temperature, then reduce the oven to 180C 160C fan, gas mark 4 and cook for a further 20 minutes.

Allow to cool on a wire rack before removing from the flan tin.

If you did not make the pastry lattice for the top you can decorate your tart in whatever way you like or have the inclination to do.
Leave it plain, dust with sieved icing sugar or make up a small amount of glace icing to go on the top. If you want to go really mad to impress you can colour up some icing (I colour it brown) and pipe lines across the top, then with a cocktail stick, drag it through the brown lines, alternating it first one way and then the next to get a spider web look – very posh!

Happy baking 😊

22/04/2020

Sweet Pastry

Although basic shortcrust pastry is suitable for most recipes, there are occasions when a sweet pastry is called for, especially for desserts and sweet pies or flans, as it adds extra flavour and depth. In many recipes you will find that ingredients given are for making the classical pate sucree which, although lovely and rich, is a complete nightmare to handle as it is very soft and sticky and even with a rest in the fridge, quickly softens up again and when you roll it out it can stick and then on lifting the pastry to line your dish, it breaks.

The sweet pastry I like to use is taken from Paul Hollywood’s Christmas Mince Pies recipe and I have found it to be less temperamental than the classic pate sucree and produces great results, and not just for mince pies! The quantity from the recipe I have here does make a large amount of pastry (enough for 2 x 24cm tart bases) but uncooked, once again freezes beautifully. You have only to pop your frozen piece of pastry into the fridge overnight and it is ready made for use the next day.

Recipe
375g plain flour
250g soft unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
1 medium egg, lightly beaten to mix
Splash of milk or water to bind

Method
Using the same technique as in the basic shortcrust recipe, rub together the flour, butter and sugar. This time however, you will find that the mix will have some larger lumps and looks less like fine breadcrumbs – this is absolutely perfect as you will notice that for this pastry, the ratio of butter to flour is 66%.
Make a well in the centre of your rubbed-in mix and pour your egg into this along with a small splash of milk or water – remember to be cautious with the amount of liquid - you can always add a drop more but too much will result in a sticky mess. Mix with a knife blade and then by hand to form a soft dough.
Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and give it a gentle, short knead but be careful not to over-handle.

If you plan to freeze some of the pastry, cut into the desired pieces, shape into a block and wrap before putting into the freezer.
The piece that you are going to use now will need to be shaped into a rough circle with your fingertips, wrapped and rested in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes until it is below room temperature but still soft enough to roll.

Lining and Blind Baking a Flan Case

If you are a lover of cookery and baking shows such as “Bake Off” you will have often heard the likes of Mary Berry talk about making sure your pastry base does not have a soggy bottom – an expression used when the base is not totally cooked through and is soft and rather horrible to eat. This is easily avoided by “blind baking” your base first.

The first step is to line your flan tin with the raw pastry. I personally prefer to use a metal tin as these give you a better transfer of heat as opposed to ceramic, but it is entirely up to you. Lightly dust your surface and rolling pin with plain flour and start to roll out your pastry. Handle your pastry as little as you can and work quickly to avoid the pastry getting warm - try to roll in the same direction rather than backwards and forwards, turning your pastry a quarter turn to get an even circle. Don’t be tempted to dust flour onto your pastry as this will increase the ratio of flour and make it heavy, if the pastry starts to stick lift it slightly with your rolling pin and flour the work surface.

Roll your pastry until it is an even 3mm in thickness and is wide enough to fit the case base and up the sides. Lift your pastry with the rolling pin by sliding it up and over the pin and then evenly positioning over the flan tin before removing the pin. Now you need to lightly press your pastry into the case. Smooth the base and using your forefinger knuckle, press the pastry lightly into the bottom edge and then work up the sides using your fingers. Allow the excess pastry to overhang the top edge of the flan tin and now put it into the fridge to rest and cool for at least another 30 minutes.

Put on your oven whilst the pastry case is resting – heat setting is 200C (or 180C Fan), Gas mark 6. As with bread, it is important that the whole oven is hot and not just the air inside, so that the pastry begins to cook immediately. I also use my bread baking stone when cooking pastry as this helps with heating the underside, so I ensure that the stone is also in the oven at the same time, giving both the oven and the stone plenty of time to heat up prior to cooking the pastry.

The next task is to make a greaseproof or parchment paper liner. If your paper is on a roll, pull out a good amount of paper and taking one of the outer corners, fold it up and over to the opposite edge to form a large triangle and cut along that edge. If you have pre-cut sheets do the same thing and just trim off the strip that is left. Using your triangle, bring one of the points of the bottom edge where your paper has the fold, over to meet the other and keep doing this until you have a cone shape. Using the tip as a guide you can now see how wide you need your liner to be to fit your tin and the sides, allowing for extra to overhang. Trim off the top, I use a slightly curved shape, and when you open out your paper you should end up with a fairly good circular shape.

Remove your chilled pastry case from the fridge, prick the base with a fork several times and trim the top – this can easily be done by rolling your rolling pin over the top edge of the tart. If you have really chilled your pastry, it will not shrink back during cooking but if you have been in a rush and only given it a short amount of time in the fridge, just leave the excess pastry hanging over as this can be trimmed off after cooking with a sharp knife.

Now put your paper liner in it and fill with baking beans, or rice or dried pulses and put into the oven on the baking stone if you are using one.
Cook for 10-15 minutes until the pastry starts to stand and colours very slightly. Remove from the oven and carefully lift out the lining paper along with the beans – now you can see why it is good to have the extra amount of paper so that you can lift the whole thing with no beans escaping. Lightly whip an egg with a fork and brush the base of your flan with some of this – this forms a cooked seal that helps to prevent any liquid from your intended filling from seeping into your pastry later. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes until the pastry is dry and the edges are just golden. It is now ready for its filling or you could freeze it when it is completely cold.

As Raymond Blanc would say “Et Voila” 😊

Footprints in Flour

07/06/2020

25/05/2020

07/05/2020

30/04/2020

28/04/2020

22/04/2020

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