Bake Off with the Bake Off - Week 6 - Pastry Week

There are some pastries that I love, I love to make, I love to eat. There are others that do not fall into this category, simply the process of making certain kinds of pastry makes them less enjoyable, not to mention how messy they are. 

So here we have it, pastry week and 3 more challenges. 

Week 6 - Pastry Week!
The Challenge - 1 set of savoury vol-au-vents and 1 set of sweet vol-au-vents.
My challenge this week - vol-au-vents! They had to have 2 different flavours - 1 savoury and 1 sweet. 

I hate making puff pastry. This was going to be a nightmare.

The Ingredients:
For the Pastry
500g Strong Flour
300ml Water
450g Cold Butter
50g Cocoa Powder
1 Egg
For the Filling
Savoury - Chicken Tikka Masala 
2 Chicken Breasts
1 Onion (Finely chopped)
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 tbsp Tikka Masala Paste
1/2 Red Pepper
1/2 Jar of Passata
1 tbsp Mango Chutney
70 ml Double Cream
70 ml Natural Yogurt
Chopped Corriander
Sweet - Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake
250g Cream Cheese
40g Icing Sugar
150ml Double Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
110g Hazelnut Chocolate (Chopped)
1/4 Jar Nutella

Puff Pastry requires the most effort, alongside the ingredients listed above, you also need a lot of patience. 

I did mine in two batches as 1 batch was savoury and 1 batch was sweet. I placed half the flour into my mixer and slowly added 150ml water whilst the mixer was on a slow setting. Once the dough had come together, it went into the fridge for 20 minutes. I rolled out the dough on a floured surface. Then between two pieces of cling film, I rolled out the butter to about half the size of the dough, folded it over, rolled it and then created a book fold.

To create a book fold the dough it flat, the right side is brought to the middle.

Then the left side meets the right in the middle

Then it's folded like a book, then chilled for 20 minutes. The folding, rolling and chilling process is repeated 2 more times.

The same process for the second batch was also followed, except the flour and the cocoa are added to the mixture with the water when mixing the dough. Then it's all about the rolling...

The folding, more folding...

and the chilling. Rinse and repeat twice more as before.

Whilst in the process of waiting for the chilling. You can be doing useful things, like preparing the fillings. I started on my Tikka Massala. I placed the vegetable oil, onion, red peppers and chicken into the pan. I then added the Chicken Tikka Masala Paste and stirred through and cook for 2 minutes. Once the chicken had browned, I added the passata, along with 50mls water. When I was happy that the chicken was cooked through, I mixed in the chutney, double cream and natural yogurt and set aside to cool.

When my pastry was ready, I cut out bottom circles, brushed it with a beaten egg and added a ring on top

I then added another layer to get the height that I needed.

I then baked at 180C for 8-10 minutes.

Some looked really good

 Others looked a little drunk

I added my filling and topped with a little coriander 

To make the chocolate hazelnut cheesecake filling, I beat together the cream cheese with the icing sugar. I then whisked together the cream and vanilla essence until soft peaks form, I then gently mixed into the cream cheese and icing sugar. I then stirred through the chopped hazelnut chocolate and set to one side. Over a very low heat I warmed the Nutella until melted, I spooned small amounts into the bottom of my chocolate vol-au-vents and added the cheesecake mix on top. 

The savoury ones were pretty good, but the chocolate hazelnut cheesecake ones were just heavenly. I scored another 4 out of 5 for this challenge - thanks to the semi drunk looking ones. Note to self - if you ever decide to make vol-au-vents again - 1) Don't do it, remember you hate making puff pastry 2) Don't forget to chill before you put the shaped ones in the oven.

Bake Off with the Bake Off - Week 5 - Alternative Week!

I know, I'm horrendously behind again, I have 3 challenges to write up and 2 bakes to complete! Best crack on.

There were a few options to choose from but Gav set me the challenge of Sugar Free Cake.

Alternative was a little difficult for me as usual alternative sweeteners that are used in cake, neither Gav or myself are a big fan off - Tricky.

Week 5 - Alternative Week!
The Challenge - Sugar Free Cake
The Idea - Blueberry, Lemon and Poppyseed Cake

The Ingredients:
For the Cake
400g Plain Flour
3 tbsp Poppy seeds
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
120ml Rapeseed Oil
130ml Honey
Juice of 1 lemon
3 Large Eggs
250g Blueberries
For the Icing
250g Cream Cheese
2 tbsp Honey
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
100g Blueberries

I preheated the oven to 180C to start with. Then combined all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a pan on a low heat, I melted the honey and rapeseed oil, then added the lemon juice.

I then added the honey, rapeseed oil and lemon juice to the dry ingredients and added the three eggs, then stirred until combined.

Happy that it was sufficiently mixed, I then added the blueberries to the cake batter and roughly incorporated.

 

I then poured the mixture into the cake tin and placed in the oven for 40 minutes. The cake was golden brown and spongy to the touch.

Whilst the cake was cooling, I made the topping. I beat together the cream cheese and honey and added the vanilla essence. I spread the topping over the cake and added the remaining blueberries to the top.

I surprised even myself with this bake, it was incredibly delicious and will be something that I would like to try again. I earned 4 our of 5 for this bake, due to the presentation - need to work on that.