mmmmmm..........Sticky buns!!!!!!

Today I made Schnecken (snails in Danish, i think) from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a domestic Goddess". They are fantastic! I used a half batch of Danish pastry that I made the other day and froze from the same book. Otherwise you can just use the regular dough. The other variation I made was to use flaked almonds instead of pecans, but that is only because that is all we had. I made half with the almonds and half just plain. So, here are some photos of these deliciously sticky and sinfully sweet buns.If you are at all interested in having this recipe, just let me know and I'll be glad to give it to you.

Delicious croque en bouche

I decided to wait until after the daring bakers post day to put up some pictures of the cake I made for my brother's fiance's birthday. I decied to make a croque en bouche which is basically a pyramid of profiteroles or cream puffs, filled with creme patissiere (custard) and then held together by toffee.

I used a Nigella Lawson recipe from 'Feast'. The profiteroles were really nice, from what I tasted, but I didn't get any of the finished cake, because my brother took it over to her house: What the?

Anyway, here is a photo of the creation. If you would like a recipe feel free to leave a comment and I will send the recipe to you. Enjoy!

First daring Baker's challenge

About a week ago I completed my first daring baker's challenge, but I had to wait until today to post about it on my blog. As I have mentioned before, the daring bakers is an international group that takes part in monthly baking challenges. A recipe is chosen at the beginning of the month and everyone in the group must bake following the month's chosen recipe. The recipe must remain a complete secret, until the 27th of the month when all are allowed to reveal the month's challenge and post their results. So, it gives me pleasure to unveil the novemeber daring bakers challenge.....................................Tender Potato Bread!!!! A big thank you to the wonderful Tanna for hosting this months challenge; a recipe from Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour & Tradition Around the World by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. I adored the recipe even though I had been a bit sceptical because I had never seen potato bread in Australia. It was, to my surprise and great delight, truly delicious.

On the daring bakers private blog I heard comments of the dough being incredibly sticky. I didn't find it too sticky; it stuck a bit, but I have worked with other much stickier doughs.

I would say that I used roughly 7 and a half cups of unbleached all purpose flour, but it is hard to say exactly cause i just poured out a little more every time it was required. Hence,I didn't measure it accurately. The dough rose unbelievably high and literally was overflowing from the bowl.

I made one large plain loaf, which I sprinkled with flour, and a dozen vintage cheddar and dijon mustard buns(see below. )The buns were delicious and went very quickly. The loaf was frozen and wil be eaten tonight. I kept it for today as my sister has just arrived from out of town and it has been a while since we have seen her, so i thought it would be nice to have some good bread.

The one thing that I forgot to do was to slash the loaf three times beofre I put it into the oven. I suppose that is why mine mushroomed over the top of the tin, but I kinda liked the effect of that anyway. I am so thrilled to be a member of the daring bakers and I want to thank Lis and Ivonne for allowing me to join and also Tanna for the great challenge. Can't wait to see everyone else's challenge and I am eager to start with the challenge for November.

To see the other Daring baker's challenges click here and to see the recipe for potato bread visit Tanna's blog My Kitchen in Half Cups

Exciting- first daring bakers challenge

Hi everyone,
Well, I have just received my first challenge with the daring bakers group and I am very excited. Of course, the challenge is completely secret until the 26th November, at which time you must come and visit my blog to see my results for the 1st challenge. Fingers crossed all goes well!